A Summer Fling
by HooksDuckling
Summary: Emma's parents are divorced and Emma is forced to spend the summer with her dad, who left her & her mother years ago, while her mother & new boyfriend are going on a six week cruise. Intending to sit these 6 weeks out in loneliness & her books, she stumbles into this mysterious lad who doesn't understand the meaning of the word "no". Rating might change in the future!
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hi! Welcome to my second fanfiction! I must warn you that this chapter is not beta read so there might be some mistakes grammar wise but I'm posting this to see if people are interested in this fanfic. If so, I will continue writing and go search for a beta reader (if one of my readers would like to be my beta reader for this fic, please contact me).**

 **Please leave a review at the bottom of this page so I know if you lovely peeps want me to continue. Thank you!**

 **I do not own any of the characters and the show.**

 **And now...Enjoy!**

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Chapter 1.

There she was, on the passenger seat of her dads car, driving through a town called Storybrooke. She hates that name and she hates the town already. She could feel her dad's eyes burning in the back of her head as she looks out the window, watching people walk by their car as they waited for the stop light to turn green.

"Your hair is longer then the last time I saw you." Her dad says and she rolls her eyes. "Yeah, you know, it's been 4 years seen you have seen me, David." She answers him, refusing to call him "dad".

Her so called dad left her and her mother when Emma was 11. She came home from school that day and found her mother crying in bed. She knew something was wrong, her dad was nowhere to be found and in the closet there were empty spots of where her dad used to keep his clothes. She hates him from that day on and with each day her dad didn't made contact with her, her hate towards him had grown.

Last year, when she was hanging out with her friends Graham and Ruby, her phone rang. She didn't know the number and usually she doesn't answer strange numbers. She had given up on hoping her dad would call her so she picked up out of curiosity. At first she was in shock when she heard the man on the other end of the phone saying he's her dad. But quickly she told him to screw himself and hung up.

A few weeks later her phone rang again, her display saying "coward" was calling. Coward was the name she had given her birth father, a coward who left his family behind when things got to hot underneath his feet.

But David didn't give up so easy, he kept calling and texting her every now and then. Even though she hates him there was also a small part inside of her that wanted her dad back. She didn't go easy on him, giving him short answers when he asked her a question and hang up after a minute or so.

And now, her mother and her boyfriend, were going on a six week cruise and they forced Emma in staying at her dad's. She begged her mother to let her stay with Ruby while they were away but her mother refused to give in to her. "No Emma, your father is already counting on you and the plane ticket is purchased already. And it's not refundable, end of discussion. Now, pack your bags. You have to leave in an hour." Her mother told her yesterday and she cried. She cried her eyes out because she couldn't say "goodbye" to her friends. Because she felt betrayed by her mother. Because her mother didn't ask her if she wanted all of this. She is 16 for God's sake, she is perfectly capable of making decision and such.

When her mother hugged her at the airport, wishing her a safe flight, she just stood there. She could see in her mother's eyes how much her attitude at the moment hurt her but Emma didn't care, she was the one sending Emma away.

"Alright Emma, I know neither of us are a sort of happy with this situation." David's voice snapped her back out of her thoughts and she chuckles. "That's an easy way of discribing this", she moves her finger between the both of them, _"situation"_. I'm starting to wonder when you will walk away since that's something your good at." She says sarcastic and turns her head around to watch out the window again.

She hears David sigh as they drive past a diner called _Granny's_ where a group of teenagers left the place with a teenager amount of noise. She rolled her eyes as she watched the group, she kinda hoped their wouldn't be any cocky teenagers but how wrong could she be?

After a few minutes they stopped in front of a small house. David parked the car and looked at Emma who returned his look with a sarcastic expression on her face. "So" David started, not knowing how to talk to his daughter. Emma let's out an annoying sigh, rolls her eyes and opens the door to get out the car. She waited at the front door for David to open the door and as he did so, she looked around the place.

The room was pretty basic, a few pictures on the wall but other than that it was a real guys place. "Where's my room?" She asks him. He turns around and points to a door at the end of the hallway. "You're room is right there." The both of them walked towards the door and when Emma steps into the room she sees something she didn't expected to see.

She expected to see a little girls room, a room filled with things that she didn't need anymore. Like stuffed animals and things to play with, things to make up for what he did. But instead she sees a big bed where two persons easily would fit in, a desk with room for her laptop and a desk lamp on top of it. She places her bags on the bed and lets her fingers slide over the sheets. "I didn't really know which colors you liked so I asked the woman from the store for some advice and we came up with purple. I hope that's okay?"

David looks at her with a shy expression on his face which was new to Emma. She remembers her dad as a cheerful, easy going guy but somehow not only Emma changed, David changed as well. "Yeah, it will do." She answers with a tone of ignorance and David takes that as his cue to leave. "I'll be down the hall if you need me, dinner is at six." He says before closing the door.

When he is gone, Emma leaves out a breath of air, not realizing she had been holding it in. She opens her bag and takes out her laptop, placing it on the desk and turning it on. She puts on a hoodie as she was feeling cold, which was funny since it was mid-summer and there was a heat wave going on. She sits behind the desk and opens up her email to check.

Her mother left her an email right before they got on the cruise, whishing her fun with David and saying she should take the opportunity to bond with her father again and make some new friends. She huffed, she didn't need new friends. Her friends at home were enough for her. She quickly emailed back that she landed safely and opened up a new email to send to her friends.

 _Hey guys,_

 _I made it to this stupid town (Seriously, who calls a town Storybrooke?) alive and I'm at David's place right now. From which I have seen so far this town, and it's inhabitants suck so these six weeks are going the be a HELL! Miss you guy's loads and if you don't hear from me every day, please call the police because I'll be dead of boredom. Or I have become one of those cocky teenagers I saw on the drive her. Miss you guys already, please tell me you haven't forgotten about me already?_

 _Big hugs,_

 _Em_

She looked at the clock, it was only 4PM and she had to wait two hours till dinner. Not that she was hungry anyway. She can hear David moving around the place and she turns on some music so she wouldn't hear him anymore. She puts her laptop aside, Ruby wouldn't email her back that quickly, and she takes out her favorite book from her travel bag and sets herself on the bed. Surprisingly, the bed was comfortable and as she places the pillows up a bit, she unfolds the book to the page she ended.

She is reading her favorite book, _Pirate Latitudes._ She's reading it for the hundred's time already, there was just something that attracted her to pirates and piracy. She remembers reading it for the first time. She was in the library, looking around for some titles that were on her reading list for school, as she stopped in front of the book. Mesmerized by its cover, an ocean with a skull, she took out the book and started reading the summary on the back of the book. Intrigued by the story she took it home, forgetting about the titles for school and started reading after dinner.

The next day at school she fell asleep during her fourth hour, suffering from the lack of sleep after reading the entire night. Once she got home she went straight to her room with the intention to get some sleep before she had to eat but with the book on her night stand, her eyes couldn't let go of it. So she started to read again. After the second time she had fell asleep at school again, the principal called her mother and her mother returned the book back to the library.

Emma was not happy with that and a few days later, when the addiction to the book took over her body, she went back and loaned it again. Only this time she was able to let go of the story and lay it down for the night, but only to pick it straight up in the morning again. Her mother didn't bother to threaten to take it back anymore, she knew Emma would go straight back to the library. When Emma had enough money saved up from her allowance, she bought her own copy of the book. The cover was turned up by now but Emma didn't care, the pages were still attached.

Completely forgotten about time, she jumped as David knocked on the door. "Emma? Dinner is ready. Are you coming?" She sighs but puts down her book and comes of the bed. She opens the door, David already back in the kitchen and setting up the table. "I hope you like hamburgers and fries" He says as he continues placing the plates on the kitchen table. "Everybody loves hamburgers and fries." She responds sarcastic and sits herself down on the chair opposite to David's. She thought she wouldn't be hungry but when the smell of the food in front of her found its way into her nose, her stomach let's out a strong moan of appetite.

"Dig in." David says and she bites of a bit of a French fries. The both eat in silence for several minutes, an awkward atmosphere hanging between them. She watches him eat and realizes that he hasn't changed that much, his appearance is the same as she remembered him. A tall, handsome man with short hair and a clean shaven face. Emma inherited his blond hair but she got his green eyes from her mother, David's are blue. Ruby once said that Emma has a thing with blue eyed boy's cause of her dad's eyes. Emma laughed when she said that and called her an idiot.

"So, how are you Emma? How's school going?" David suddenly asks and Emma almost chokes on a piece of her hamburger. "Seriously David, you want to know how I am doing and how school is." She rolls her eyes and looks down at her plate. "You do know you can call me dad, right?" Her eyes meet his quickly, staring intensely at him. "Like you know you could have stayed 5 years ago, right?" She says rebellious.

"Okay Emma, I get it. You clearly do not want to be here and I have to admit that this is very awkward. When your mother asked me to take you in for six weeks I couldn't say no, I miss you Emma." Emma chuckles, she sits back in her chair and places one of her arms over the back of the chair. "After 5 years you finally realize that you miss me? Five freaking years?" She chuckles once more and David sighs as he rubs his hand over his face

"That's not how it is Emma. I started contacting your mother after a year we've divorced, asking her time after time if I could talk to you. But she kept me away from you, saying you didn't want to talk to me. And when I finally got your own cell number out of her, I was too afraid to call. What if she was right, what if you didn't want to talk to me? So it took me 4 months to gather enough courage to call you. And when I heard your voice I was mad, mad at myself for not calling you sooner. So yeah Emma, to you it might look like 5 "freaking" years but I've missed you from the moment I walked out the door."

Emma has been staring at him the entire time he was explaining himself, not knowing what to say in return. She somehow feels some weight falling of her shoulder after hearing this but that didn't make it all right. They still had a lot of work to do and Emma was still mad at him for leaving her behind. So she shoves her plate back, not so hungry anymore and excuses herself from the table. David knows he can't force her to stay at the table so her let her go, placing his head in both of his hands.

Emma grabs her red, leather jacket and her purse and walks out the door with a quick goodbye to David. She looks down the street, deciding if she should go left or right and when she turns right she can see her father looking at her through the window from the corner of her eyes. She quickly continues to walk towards the center of the town, leaving her dad behind with his own regrets and sorrows.

She reaches the center, which was almost empty now that the shops had closed their doors. For a small town they have a lot of shops here. She spotted a clothing shop, a pharmacy, a pawn shop and even a vet. They only noises were coming from the diner they passed earlier today, "Granny's", where people enjoyed their dinner outside.

When she walked up the three steps towards the diner's front door, she could feel the people staring at her. She rolled her eyes, opened the door and enjoyed the quietness inside. As loud at is was outside, it was quiet inside. There was literally nobody inside other than the elderly lady behind the counter and Emma assumes that this was Granny. "Hello sweetheart, what can I get you?" The lady politely asks her. "Eh, I would like a chocolate flavored milkshake, please?" She says skeptical and they lady nods before making her order.

As she was waiting for her milkshake, the front door opened and girl not much older than Emma walks in. Emma recognizes her, she's one of the cocky teenager she spotted this afternoon. Emma takes a good look at her, her pedicured feet in some fancy looking flip flops, miniskirt and a tank top. Exactly the kind of girls Emma avoids and she rolls her eyes as she looks back at Granny. "Here you go sweetheart" Granny says and handing her the ordered milkshake. Emma smiles at her, gives her enough money and says that she can keep the rest, which earns her a kindly smile back from Granny.

Before she opens the door out, she chuckles as she hears the changed tone in Granny's voice as she greets the girl, apparently named Regina. Once outside, the people didn't notice her anymore. They were eating, laughing and drinking some beer, clearly having a great time. Seeing these strangers hanging out and having fun made her think about her own friends and how much she misses them. She gathered that Ruby has emailed her back by now and she starts to walk to David's place faster. Just when she turned around the corner she could feel someone else's body against hers and her milkshake falls out of her hand.

The lid of the cup bursts open and the milkshake lands on her shirt. She jumps as she feels the cold liquid touching her body and tries to get it off of her with her hands, which obliviously did not work. "I'm sorry love, did see you coming there." A foreign accent drawing her attention and as she looks up, she sees a tall boy with dark hair and a nice scruff on his face staring down on her guilty. She looks further up to him, meeting his eyes and grasps some air. His eyes were blue, bluer than she had ever seen and she starts to breaths heavily. He smiles at her and when he asks if she is okay, she has lost her words, completely mesmerized by his ocean like eyes.

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 **Please leave a review below, curious to know what you guys think of it. Thank you!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you all for the lovely reviews about this fanfiction! I really enjoy writing this story and every review keeps me motivated!**

 **Thank you** Captured The Saviours Heart **for** **being my beta with this story!**

 **I do not own any of the wonderful characters and the show.**

 **Enjoy and please leave a review at the bottom :)**

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Chapter 2

"Are you alright?" The boy asks and his voice snaps her back to reality. "What does it look like?" She asks him sarcastic and focuses on the milkshake on her shirt. She heard him chuckle and looks back up again. "You think this is funny?" She places her hands on her hips as she rolls with her eyes.

"Aye, love" he answers, giving her a mocking look in return.

"How about you watch where you're going next time and stop with the "love" already."

"How about you give me your name and I'll stop with the "love" thing." He says as he raises one of his eye brows.

The boy was playing with her and she was not in the mood for his arrogance. She would be lying if she said that he isn't attractive. Dark brown hair that looked like he just came out of bed, she wouldn't mind running her hands through it. She grabs a hold of her bag and starts to walk away.

"Hey, where are you going? I'm sorry for running into you, would you at least let me buy you a new milkshake?" He said right before she disappears around the next corner. She stops, looks at him over her shoulder and gives him a sarcastic smile. "Thanks but I'm good." She can hear him laugh as she starts to walk again and chuckles.

When she comes home she notices the place is quiet, David must be out of the house. She walks into the garden, which is surprisingly large considering the house itself was rather small. Outside she finds David at the table reading a magazine. "Emma, you're back already. What happened to your shirt?" He says as he lays down what he was reading. "Some bloke ran into me and I spilled my milkshake." She looks down at her dirty t-shirt. "Well, if you throw it into the bathroom when you have changed it, I'll make sure it gets washed." Emma nods at him and walks back in.

In her room she changes her shirt quickly and open ups her laptop again, maybe Ruby emailed her back already. Her inbox is filled with unread junk mails, she didn't bother to unsubscribe from them or to delete them. She smiles as she sees that Ruby indeed emailed her back.

 _Hey Ems,_

 _Yay, you're still alive! Gosh, that town does sound boring! It's not the same here without you, I'm pretty sure Graham is going out of his mind now that you're not here. Trust me, he has a serious crush on you! ;)_

 _But on the more serious note, we miss you too. We keep going but like I said, it's not the same without you. But try to have some fun Emma, the more fun you have the sooner you come home again. And maybe, just maybe, you'll find your Prince Charming there…_

 _We love you too Em, have fun!_

 _The Gang_

Emma laughed when she finished reading Ruby's email. Everyone knows Graham has a crush on her and even though they shared a kiss for 10 seconds, Graham is perfectly fine with "just being friends". Graham has a special place in Emma's heart, they met on their first day of High School. Straight away Emma knew she was in a class with kids that already know each other for years and it wouldn't be easy to blend in with them. Not that Emma was so desperate to be friends with the first person she met.

One of the kids, Peter, came over to her table and started to bully her. He smacked her on the head, threw her books from the table and when he wanted to spit in her face, Graham stopped him from doing so. Emma wasn't tough herself, not until a few years later. She was still suffering from what happened with her parents, her dad walking out on her really made her world go upside down.

She has been to a psychiatrist for two years and all of the sudden she stopped going, not feeling any improvement at all. When her dad left she experienced anxiety attacks, lost her trust in people and felt unloved for a very long time. So she built up a wall around her, a new brick every day. And no matter how much her mum tried, that wall was not going down.

So when Graham told her he wanted to be more than friends, Emma looked at him and told him she didn't feel the same way. She loves him, as friends. She wants him close, as friends. He is in her heart, as friends. And she didn't want to mess up this friendship so she told him that this was everything she could possibly offer him. And Graham, as the sweetheart as he is, told her that he'd rather has her as a friend then not have her at all.

Ruby on the other hand is a complete different story. She's nothing like Emma and Graham, she is more the opposite of them. Where Graham and Emma are reserved, Ruby is outgoing. Where Graham and Emma are shy, Ruby is very self-confident. But like Emma and Graham, Ruby is always there for you.

One day, when Emma and Graham were having lunch outside, Ruby joined them out of the blue. She started talking and even though Emma made clear she didn't want to eat with her, she never left. Eventually all three of them became really close and people started calling them the "three peeps gang", which Ruby changed into just "The Gang".

Suddenly, the tiredness kicks in and she yawns. She closes her laptop, making an inside note to email Ruby tomorrow, picks up her book and climbs on top the bed. After reading two pages her eyes started to feel heavy and she closes them, falling asleep with the book unfolded on her stomach.

She wakes up the next morning, after sleeping fourteen hours, and looks around disorientated. It takes her a few seconds to realize she was at David's place and she sighs. Noises of pots and pans are coming from the kitchen and she gets up, not bothered by the fact that she's still wearing yesterday's clothes. "Good morning sunshine." David says as he looks up when she walks in. She rolls her eyes and sits herself down at the kitchen table. "Do you want some eggs?" David turns around to face her and holds up a pan. "Sure." She says and takes a bite of a piece of bread.

"Did you sleep well? I came into your room a few hours later after you got home and I found you sleeping. Must be the trip that exhausted you." He says as he breaks the eggs at the side of the pan, the butter splashing around. "I guess" David sighs and turns around again, she can tell that her attitude is upsetting him but she doesn't really care about that. He is the one who walked out on them and she didn't asked for any of this.

"Do you have any plans for today?" David tries to communicate with her again as he places her eggs on her plate. "Not exactly. Just read my book or something, I don't know." She says as she shrugs. "Want to join me while I work on the mayor's garden?" He knew he should not have asked her to come along before he'd seen the look on her face.

She looks at him with a sarcastic look. "Are you even serious David?" Is all she says before getting up and walks towards her bedroom where she closes the door and leaves David alone, with his head down.

She remembers that she still has to email Ruby back so she opens her laptop and while it's starting up, she picks out some clothes to wear today. It is going to be a hot day again today and even though it's only nine PM, she could already feel the heat coming in through the window. Eventually she picks a jeans, she hates dresses and skirts, and a t-shirt her mom got her for her fifteenth birthday. It's a black t-shirt with a white picture of a pirate ship, which was worn out since she practically lives in it. Instead of wearing her sneakers today she takes out her flip flops.

When she is satisfied with her choice of clothing, which she never needed much time for anyway, she sits behind the desk and sends Ruby an email.

 _Hey guys!_

 _It brings me joy that you guys miss me too xD._

 _Yesterday I met a local from this stupid town. Some dude ran into me after I got a milkshake and you can guess what happened. I know you are laughing now Ruby, thanks, I love you too! Anyway, he asked me if I wanted a new milkshake but I refused._

 _About 10 minutes ago David asked me if I wanted to come to work with him… Seriously? Why would he even think I'm interested in going to work with him…?_

 _Not going to do much today (like there's a lot to do around here), going out with my book and look for a nice quiet place to read. What are you guys up too?_

 _XOXO,_

 _Emma_

She stares at her laptop for about ten minutes, waiting for Ruby to reply her email but when that reply doesn't come she closes the laptop and walks to the bathroom. She had seen the bathroom briefly yesterday when she walked to her bedroom the first time but now that she was in it, she takes a look around.

The room was exactly like she expected it to be, small and very basic. The floor is the same as the rest of the house, light brown laminate, but the shower is tiled. She turns on the shower as she thinks about her own house back home. She remembers her dad renovating the bathroom and her mum pushing him to hurry up since they had to shower at their neighbors while David was renovating. It's not that her mother hates their neighbor's, more like she was ashamed about using theirs. It took her dad four weeks to complete the whole room and he was so proud of himself for doing so.

She shakes her head, clearing out the memory of her mum and dad together and steps underneath the hot shower. To Emma's liking, the room is covered in the smoke that the heat caused and she wets her hair. On the wall on her left side hangs a rack where she sees David's shampoo and body wash and she notices that he has bought her some too. She's surprised to see that he had bought the right stuff but she doesn't want to use his. Even though it was nice of him to buy it for her, she uses the stuff she brought with her.

Just as she's washing her body she hears music coming from the living room and she reaches her head outside the shower cabin to listen to the song. She remembers it from a long time ago but can't think of the title. Not long after the song has started she hears David sing along with the song. She rolls her eyes and gets back under the shower but after a while she has to admit that the song is quite catchy and she starts to dance under the hot water.

A memory of her and David pops up in her head, both of them dancing around the living room to one of Emma's favorite songs. They did that quite often, whenever Emma was feeling down David would get a hold of one of her CD's and started playing a song. He would turn the volume up and when Emma came out of her bedroom, she would be smiling again and she would dance with her father until the both of them were short on breath. Some tears started to well up behind her eyes and she blinked repeatedly to make them go away.

One tear managed to escape, making its way down her cheek as she pushed the memory away. It has been a long time since Emma thought about her relationship with her dad this way, most of the times her memories were all about how heartbroken her mother was and how alone she felt when her father left them.

She quickly washes the soap of her body, turns down the water and dries herself off. With the towel tightly wrapped around her body she opens the bathroom door, peaking outside to see if David is anywhere near. When she doesn't see him, she quickly heads towards her bedroom, letting out a breath of relief as she leans against the closed door.

She gets dressed, not thinking about her and David anymore and picks up her book and her bag. When she walks into the living room she finds David in the kitchen, doing the dishes while moving his body to the beat of the music that was still playing in the background. "I'm out" She says to him, already making her way to the front door. "Be careful sweetheart." He responds and she freezes, that's exactly what he used to say to her every time she went out the door. "I will." She says like she had said that to him since she was ten

"At what time will you be home? I should be home by 5 PM and dinner should be ready at 6." She turns around to face him and she rolls her eyes at him. "I am not sure when I get home but I'll try to make it before dinner, okay?" She turns around again, not waiting for his answer, opens the door and walks out.

From the corner of her eye she can see him watching her leave. She lowers her head and picks up the pace, avoiding the chance to look him in the eyes and see the hurt on his face. She knows she's being hard on him, he's trying so hard to fix the broken pieces in their relationship but Emma isn't ready for that. At least, not yet. Of course she wanted her dad back, have a steady and happy relationship with him. But at the moment she wanted to hurt his feelings like he has hurt hers.

As she walked through the neighborhood she noticed that it was surprisingly quiet outside. She expected it to be much louder in the streets, the school is closed and it was hot outside. Why would the kids hide inside? On the other hand, if everyone is inside Emma would have some peace and quietness to read her book.

She walked around the corner, not exactly knowing where she was going, and she stops as she realizes she has found the town harbor. There are a few ships docked and a few men are unloading a fisher boat with what seems to be the catch of the morning. The wind blows a sense of the fish in her nose and her face contorts as she smells the stench.

"Good morning, lass" One of the men greets her and she smiles back politely. his apron is soaked by the water dripping from the fish and she lets out a squeal as she sees one of the disgusting fishes. The man starts to laugh and pretends to come after her with the fish and Emma starts to run away. After a few steps she looks around and sees the man almost rolling over the floor with laughter and she rolls her eyes.

After ten meters she spots a bench, far away from the two working men and sits herself down on it. She places her bag besides her, linking one hand through the strap of her bag after she pulled out her book.

She has the ability to clear out the surroundings when she reads so she jumps as she hears a voice behind her asking what she is reading. When she looks around she sees the boy from yesterday who ran into her, one of his feet resting on the bench. He has his arms crossed on his knee and looks at her with a sparkle in his eyes.

"For fuck sake, why are you creeping up on me like that? Don't you have anywhere to be?" She snaps at him, frustrated that he bothered her. "Wow, what a lovely thing you are." He said back, avoiding the sarcastic look in her eyes. "I'm just being curious about what you are reading but if I'm not allowed too then I'll walk away again." She sighs as he lowers his foot and surprises herself as she says " _Pirate Latitudes_ ".

"Come again?" he asks her confused. "That's what I am reading, ' _Pirate Latitudes'."_ She shows him the cover. "Can I see it?" He asks and reaches out his hand. She hands him the book, taking a closer look at him as he reads the back cover.

He's wearing a tight, bleach washed jeans with a red t-shirt that shows a bit of his chest hair. A necklace with a ring hangs down from his neck and then she sees the ring on his thumb as well, a big silvered ring with some weird symbols on it. His hair is the same as yesterday, some sort of 'just out of bed' look. His hair is dark colored but his scruff let out a shimmer of red.

"Sounds interesting. You like pirates?" She gazes into his eyes, bright blue when he looks into the sun and it reminded her of an ocean far, far away. He raises one of his eyebrows as she doesn't respond immediately and she shakes her head a bit. "Yes I do." She shortly replies.

"Yeah, pirates are pretty cool. If you like the stories about how they torture their enemies and let them walk the plank to feed them to sharks." He smirks as Emma takes back the book. "Anyway, I should let you get back to reading." He says and gives her a soft smile. Emma only nods and turns around to get back to reading again. She can hear him walk away but after two steps, he stops again.

"You know, you still haven't given me your name. Since that I haven't called you "love", yet, you at least owe me your name." Emma looks up at him, he's scratching behind his nervously. Or flirting, Emma couldn't tell the difference. They stare at each other for a few minutes, the silence hanging between them. "Emma" She finally says to make him leave and he smirks again. "Well, I'll see you around. _Emma_ " He winks at her and turns around, walking away with confidence and Emma watches him leave.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thank you all for your reviews, they motivate me to keep writing so please keep reviewing!**

 **Thank you,** Captured The Saviours Heart, **beta this chapter!**

 **Enjoy and leave a review at the bottom.**

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Chapter 3

After sitting on the bench for a few hours straight her back started to hurt. She closed her book and looked around. She hadn't noticed that more people had come out their houses. She places her book in her bag and gets up. Before she started to walk she stretched her legs, letting out a growl of pain.

When she walked passed Granny's, the smell of food comes into her nose and her stomach let's her know that it's time to eat. She turns around and walks into the dinner. Unlike yesterday the place was crowded with people eating lunch. Since there was no room left at the tables she was forced to sit down next to a man at the bar. His face shows that he is having a bad day and she sighs.

She sits down and Granny walks towards her. "Hello sweetheart, what can I get you?" the lady asks her and Emma shrugs. Granny simply smiles at her and hands her a menu. When the lady walks towards another costumer, she opens the menu. Her bag slips from her lap when she crosses her legs and when she tries to catch it, she bumps into the elbow of the man besides her.

"Watch where you're going girl!" She snaps at her. She rolls her eyes and sits back onto the barstool again. When Granny comes back she orders a grilled cheese sandwich and a coke. While waiting for her order she takes out her book again and starts to read.

She hears the bell ring when someone walks in and she looks up from her book. It is the girl from yesterday, Regina, who's blocking the entrance with her hands on her hips while her eyes go through the diner. Emma chuckles as she watches the girl pretending to own the place. Regina's eyes snapped towards her and she narrowed her eyes.

"What are you looking at, blondie?" She asked Emma.

"I'm admiring Granny's lovely décor and I think I found something that doesn't quite matches with the rest." She snapped back and she could hear Granny chuckle.

Regina looks at her with anger, she was not amused and Emma didn't even care. She turned around to face Granny and gives her a wink. Granny rewards her with a big smile as she places Emma's plate in front of her. While eating her sandwich she feels Regina's eyes in her back.

"I know who you are." Regina then says.

"Excuse me?" Emma asks, turning around to face her again.

"You're the girl Killian talked about yesterday." Emma doesn't know what she is talking about and looks at her quizzically.

"He bumped into you yesterday? Spilled your milkshake all over your shirt?" Regina starts to chuckle when Emma realizes about who she's talking. (just need to change the order around here- who she's talking about)

"Oh that asshole. Yeah he ran into me yesterday. He has the same attitude as you, thinking that he owns the place when he is basically nothing." Emma was done with this girl and turned around to continue her lunch.

"Are you going to order something, Regina? If not then you know where the exit is." Granny says and Emma hears the bell ring when Regina leaves. Granny gives her a nod and gets back to helping customers.

After lunch Emma walks towards the other side of the town square. She passes a water fountain with a statue of a wolf on top of it and runs her left hand through the water to cool off a bit.

When she walks around the corner she sees her dad's van a bit further down the road. "Great" She mumbles to herself when David waves at her.

"Emma, what a nice surprise. Are you here to help me?" She looks up and down at him, his coveralls, boots and hands dirty from the sand and rolls her eyes. "No, thank you. I just came from Granny's and I'm walking around a bit. "

"If I had known that you were getting lunch at the diner, I would have come with you."

"Yeah, well, I didn't know where you were and I like being on my own." She replies and when she wants to walk away he takes her wrist. "Stay Emma, please. You don't have to help, just stay and talk with me a bit. And the Mayor is looking forward to meet you." David let's go of her wrist and she sighs. "Okay. But I'm not staying the whole afternoon." David gives her a big smile.

They walk to the back off the house and Emma's mouth drops as she sees the size of the garden. "No wonder you asked me to help you, this garden is gigantic." She walks further into the garden and she had to admit that David knows what he's doing.

The garden is covered with grass and in the middle stands a large apple tree. She turns around and looks back at the house. She can tell that David is making a tiled terrace to sit in summer days. He already had the place tiled and is now planting some flowers into pots to decorate it.

A man comes walking out, followed by what seems to be his son. Somehow the both of them have a familiar face which she can't place. "David, this is looking great." The man says to her father. "Thank you Mayor, I'm doing my best." He answers as he shakes the Mayor's hand.

"I know you David, you always deliver what you promise. And stop with the Mayor already, we're friends for years already. Who's this lovely lady? Is that your little girl?"

Emma blushes as she realizes that the man was talking about her and walks up to him. "Nice to meet you, Mayor. My name is Emma." She shakes his hand firmly and an approving smile appears on his face.

"Nice to meet you as well, Emma. But please, call me father has told me that you were coming to stay with him for the summer. What do you think about our little town?" He gestures her to sit at the table and she shyly sits down. David sits himself down next to her and Brenna sits down on her other side. The boy sits opposite her, still not saying a word.

He reminds her of someone and she feels frustrated because she couldn't tell who that person is exactly. She looks back at Brennan, as he calls her name. "So far so good. But I have to admit, sir, that there isn't really much to do around here."

Brennan chuckles. "Well, I know this is a small town but there is plenty to do around here. There's a carnival tonight which my son Liam has organized." He says as he looks at the boy.

"You should come too, I promise there's enough for you to do." Liam says to her and she smiles politely back at him. Then she looks at David who smiles at her. "That's actually a great idea, we could go together if you want?" he asks her.

"I'm not sure if I'm going. Thank you for the invite but I think I'm staying in tonight." She isn't really up to spending time with townspeople or even have fun with them. She knows how much it would mean to David if they went together but she doesn't really care.

"Well, that's up to you. If you change your mind, it starts at eight. Come on Liam, we still have plenty of things to do." The Mayor and Liam get up of their chairs and David and the Brennan shake hands again. Liam nods to the both of them and follows his father back in.

"Are you sure you want to stay in tonight? The carnival is always a big happening (thing) here, I'm sure you will like it too." David tries to invite her again for tonight.

"We'll see, okay? Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to your place again. I think I have seen enough of this town and this garden for today." She does not wait for his answer and walks back to the front of the house.

When she's almost back at David's place she sees Killian walking in front of her. He isn't alone, Regina is walking on his left and two other boys walk in front of them. She doesn't want to be noticed so she slows down her pace. But she could still here them talking.

"You know Killian, I ran into that girl of yours today at Granny's." Regina bumped her shoulder into his and he almost walks of the sidewalk. "My girl? I have a girl? How come I don't know anything about that?" Killian replies.

"Don't act stupid now. I'm talking about the milkshake girl." She hears Regina chuckle and she now knows for sure that her and Regina will never be friends. These people really made her miss home and her friends more with each word they say.

"You mean Emma?" Killian said confident and Regina suddenly stops walking.

"Since when do you know her name?" She starts to walk again, catching up with the guys.

"I saw her this morning. She was reading a book at the docks. She's a fiery one, I like her."

A strange feeling rushed through her body when he said he likes her. It's a feeling she hasn't experienced before and she pinches her wrist to make it go away. She sighs relieved as Killian and his friends walk around the corner and she quickly walks back to David's house.

Once she's in, she kicks off her shoes and sits herself down on the couch. She switches the TV on, changes the channel for three minutes and then she finds a movie that seems interesting. She makes herself comfortable and before she knows it, she falls into a deep sleep.

 _"Daddy, I'm afraid!" Emma yells at her dad. She turned 5 that day and her parents had bought her a bike. Her very first bike and now her dad is about to teach her how to ride it. The bike is white with a little basket on the front of her steer and her mother added some flowers to it._

 _"No need to be afraid sweetheart. I will make sure that nothing bad happens to you." Her dad yells back at her as he walks towards the street where he places the bike on the sidewalk. She walks towards him, hesitantly and her dad reaches out his hand. "Come on sweetie, you're a big girl now. We can do this, just you and me._

 _When she gets close enough, her dad picks her up and sets her on the saddle. "Now, when you want to go left you turn your steer left. Same goes with right, okay?" Her dad explains and she nods. "When you're ready, I will push you forward a bit and you will notice that your feet will start to move as well. All you have to do is move your feet the same way as the peddles. And these are you breaks." He pushes her forward a little and squeezes her breaks. She stands still in an instant._

 _"That's all there is Emma, are you ready?" She takes a deep breath and nods, she's ready. She squeals as her dad starts to push her and she can feel her feet move. She catches on with how the peddles work quickly and she moves on her own faster._

 _"Emma, sweetheart, hit your breaks! You will fall!" She hears her dad yell behind her but she doesn't want to stop. When she rode down a street she didn't realized that she would make more speed and she started to panic. "Daddy!" She screams and tears start to roll down her face. "Breaks, Emma, breaks!" She hits her breaks, like daddy showed her and she stopped immediately. She fell of her bike, her knee smacking onto the road and she cries even louder._

 _"Oh Emma, are you alright?" Her daddy picks her up and wraps his arms around her tightly and rocks her left and right to comfort her. "Let me see that knee of yours" He asks as she has calmed down a bit. She takes her knee up and see a big gall on top of her knee. "Can you walk or do you want me to carry you back home?"_

 _She wraps her little hands around his neck and he picks her up. He takes her bike in the other hand and starts to walk home. She looks up from his shoulder and she sees her mother looking at the both of them. "Mommy" she squeals and starts to sob again._

 _"Poor baby. Let's go inside and get some ice cream." Her mother said and she already forgotten about her fall down. Her daddy placed down her bike and took her hand in his as they walked inside._

"Emma, sweetheart, wake up." Her eyes fly open as she hears her voice and she sees David hanging above her. "What time is it?" She asks as she gets up, rubbing her face to get the sleep out.

"It's almost six, dinner is almost ready." He answers and walks back into the kitchen. As she takes a deep breath through her nose she could smell dinner. She instantly knows what he's cooking, rice with chicken and vegetables. Her favorite dinner since she can remember.

She smiles as she walks into the kitchen. "You've remembered" is all she says as she sits down at the table. "How could I forget? You wanted to eat this every evening when you were nine." David chuckles and places her plate in front of her.

"So, are you still sure about not going to the carnival? It's really going to be fun." David asks before taking a bite of his dinner.

"You know what, let's go. It's been a long time since I've been to a carnival." She answers and David looks at her surprised.

"Really?"

"Yes, really." She smiles at him which made him even more surprised. She smiled at him every now and then but those were sarcastic smiles. This smile was a genuine smile.

"Okay then. How about we finish dinner so you can freshen up if you like." She simply nods and they enjoy the rest of their dinner in silence. After dinner she excuses herself and walks to her bedroom. She opened her laptop to see if Ruby had emailed her back. She smiled as she saw her friend did replied.

 _Ems,_

 _A boy? Milkshake? Buy you another one? Please tell me more! Is he hot?_

 _I think it's nice of David though, that he asks you if you want to help him. You know he's trying hard to fix your relationship again, go easy on him a bit. I know you are not pleased with this situation but he's still you're father._

 _How's your book? Decided to read something else for a chance? Or are you still reading that pirate book?_

 _Not much going on her(e) as well, we miss you!_

 _XXX_

 _Ruby and Graham_

She quickly emails her back, not talking about the boy anymore but just a quick "I'm fine" email and that she would tell her more in tomorrow's email.

After that she changed her clothes into a pair of dark jeans, a white tank top and puts on her leather jacket. It was still warm outside but she loves wearing her red jacket.

David was already waiting for her when she came out the room, smiling at her as she walked closer. He opened the door for her and gestured her to walk out first. The way to the carnival remained silence. She could hear music from a small distance and as they walked closer to the town square she hears that it's one of her favorite songs.

She starts to sing to the music and looks at her dad who looked at her confused, he wants to join her but he has no clue which song it is. She chuckles and bumps her shoulder against hers.

Liam did an amazing job, the carnival is bigger than she expected. There are shooting booths, bumper cars and a lot of food stands. There are a lot of things to do for the little kids, the carousel has a huge waiting line. She chuckles, she used to love the carousel. She would go on it time after time until she got sick and her daddy had to drag her home.

She keeps glancing around as they walk through the carnival. The place is crowded and everyone is laughing, drinking and eating. When she turned around to say something to David, she gets pushed from behind.

"What the?" She turns around to see who knocked her of her feet and she stairs into familiar blue eyes. "God, not you again."

"Emma, good to see you again as well." Killian said and smiles at her. "Mr Nolan." He then says to David and reaches out his hand to shake David's.

"Killian, I did not know you knew my daughter." David looks at him, his eyes narrowed.

"Aye, I do sir. We kind of bumped into each other the other day." He scratches behind his ear nervously.

"Ah, you're the one who got the milkshake all over her shirt?" Emma started to blush. There's a strange, kind of awkward vibe between them and Emma wanted Killian to leave.

"Yeah, dad, he's the asshole who did that. Goodbye, Killian. I would say it's a pleasure seeing you again but it really wasn't." She takes David's hand and drags him away from Killian.

"Is there something going on between you and Killian, Emma?" She stopped walking and looked up at him.

"Are you serious? There is absolutely nothing going on, I don't even like him."

"Good. I don't want you anywhere near that boy ever again, okay?"

She frowns, what is her father talking about? Why is he having such a hard undertone in his voice? What happened between him and Killian? David doesn't say anything anymore and walks further. Emma followed him, looking over her shoulder to where she had left Killian and he was still looking at her, still scratching behind his ear.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Chapter 4 is here, YAY! It's a bit shorter then the previous chapters but this one's from Killian's POV!**

 **Thank you all for the lovely reviews, it makes me happy that people are actually enjoying my story. Keep reviewing please, it inspires me to write more!**

 **A big thank you to** _Captured The Saviours Heart_ **for beta reading this ff and giving the best advises to make this story perfect!**

 **I don't own any of these characters and show.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _Killian's point of view_

He looked around the Carnival, of course his brother would pull this thing off. He was always the smart one of them. Their father had always favoured Liam. Which was fine with him, he didn't need his father's love anyway.

As he kept looking around he didn't)realize that someone was walking in front of him. He bumps into a girl with blonde hair, Emma.

"What the?" He hears her saying as he turns around. He somehow manages to stay on his feet and reaches out his arms to keep her from falling as well."God, not you again."

"Emma, good to see you again as well." Killian says and smiles at her. "Mr. Nolan." He then says to David and reaches out his hand to shake David's.

"Killian, I did not know you knew my daughter." David looks at him, his eyes narrowed. He instantly knows what her father is thinking.

His so called "reputation" is haunting him again, he can see it in David's eyes. He wants to roll his eyes but he knows that's not a very smart move to make.

"Aye, I do sir. We kind of bumped into each other the other day." He scratches behind his ear nervously.

"Ah, you're the one who got the milkshake all over her shirt?" He sees Emma's cheeks turning a bit red and his heart skips a beat. _God, she's gorgeous when she blushes_. He shakes his head a bit to keep thinking straight as Emma opens talks to her father.

"Yeah, dad, he's the asshole who did that. Goodbye, Killian. I would say it's a pleasure seeing you again but it really wasn't." She takes David's hand and drags him away from Killian.

He stands there, watching her leave. He would love to talk to her some more but she clearly wasn't interested in him at all. There is something about this girl that is making him wanting to be around her all the time.

His eyes narrow as he hears what David says to her. "Good. I don't want you anywhere near that boy ever again, okay?"

He scratches behind his ear again, starting to feel more nervous. He looks at her as she turns around once more, an apologizing expression on his face. But he gathers she doesn't notice it as she quickly looks back at her father again.

"What's up, Jones? Your girl is walking away from you." He snaps back to reality as someone laces his arm with theirs. "She's not my girl, Regina."

"I'm just kidding, dude." She chuckles and he places his arm around her shoulder. He can feel her body pressed to his but that doesn't bother him, they have done this a billion times.

He loves Regina, as friends. Not just as friends, she's like a sister to him. Even though they never spoke about their friendship a lot, he thinks she feels that way too.

They have know each other for years, both born and raised in this boring town so they all went to the same schools. They didn't like each other in the beginning, some people even said they hated each other.

Killian remembers him pulling her hair multiple times at primary school which made her cry and him brag about it to his friends. When they were sophomores they had to work on a project together and as they got to know each other better, they slowly became friends.

They grew more together after what happened last year, Regina was and is the only one that really understands what's going on inside him. He was grateful to have her as a friend. At first people thought that they had become lovers, which they both found hilarious

"Where are the others?" He asks Regina while still looking at Emma. She was waiting for her father to return with a hotdog and he could tell she was having some trouble keeping her eyes away from him.

She finally turns her head to look at him and he gives her a wink and he satisfyingly smiles as she blushes again.

"There are the others." Regina says and both turn around. "Jones!" One of his friends, August, yells.

"Dude, what's up?" He yells back and let's go of Regina. He gives his friends a brotherly hug and all five of them start to walk around the carnival.

The next morning he wakes up later than planned, quickly getting out of the bed when he sees that it's around noon already. He rubs the sleep out of his face and walks towards the bathroom. This house is ridiculous, he had to walk past 7 rooms to get to the bathroom.

He switches on the shower and undresses, his sweatpants casually thrown in the corner of the room. His dad hates it when he has to clean up his stuff and he loves to get his father mad.

He quickly washes his hair and body, turns of the shower and gets dressed after drying himself.

When he comes down and walks into the living room he can hear his father and brother talking in the kitchen. He lets out an annoyed sigh before walking in.

"Morning." Is all he says, not looking at both of them. He opens the refrigerator, takes out the milk and drinks it straight out the bottle.

"Take a mug, son." His dad orders him. He looks at him with the bottle still against his lips and takes another zip from it. Then he places back the cap, puts its back in the fridge and looks at his father again.

"I'm good, dad." He replies with an attitude and sits himself down at the kitchen table. He ignores the looks from his dad and brother and slides the newspaper towards him.

"The carnival was a big success, Liam. Congrats." He says as he reads the front page. "Everyone liked it a lot. Grumpy even said it was almost as fun as hanging out at Granny's."

He looks at his brother. They were close once, before it all happened. After that, they both weren't who they used to be anymore. They didn't hate each other, they just grew apart from one and another.

Liam started college last year and is now back to spend the summer with them. Killian had always looked up to his brother, wanted to be just like him. Successful, smart and loved by his father.

The first two things he could manage, he's smart so he will be successful in the future. But the love from his father, he will never have that like Liam has. He gave up doing well in his father's eyes years ago. Last year things only made it worse than ever.

"Thanks little brother." Liam says and padded him on the back. He looks up at him, smiling softly.

"I have to do some groceries. Want to come along?" His brother asks him. He nods with excitement, it's been a long time since both of them hung out together. And it was also a great excuse to be away from his father.

He waits in the doorway for Liam to get the grocery list and the keys of his dad's car and closed the door behind him when Liam walked out.

"Is it ever going to be back to normal with you and dad?" Liam asks when he starts the car. "For fuck sake, Liam. Do you really have to start about this now?" He gives his brother an annoyed look.

"I guess not" is all Liam answers and drives off.

The market isn't far from their home but since they had a lot to buy they had taken the car. After a minute or two Liam parks the car and both of them get out.

"I've missed you, brother." Liam suddenly says and Killian stops walking, not used to his brother saying this.

"I've missed you, too." He answers softly and then walks after Liam again.

"So what's college like?" Killian asks him genuinely interested.

He has applied for a college too, Boston University. They have a great music department and he wants to do something with his passion for music.

He plays guitar himself, he has two of them at the moment. He doesn't get to play often much, his dad works from his office at home most of the time and his dad hates the noise. So he only gets to play when his father isn't home, which is usually once a week.

He loves playing his electric guitar, he has even bought a headphone so his dad wouldn't hear him. But eventually he would start jumping up and down while playing and his dad would get mad as well.

He should hear from BU in a few days and he's been nervous about it for at least two weeks now. BU is his ticket out of this hell hole, start somewhere new where no one has ever heard of him.

"College is fun, I guess. If you go to all the parties they are throwing. Seriously, there's a party every night." Liam looks at him with a serious look that makes Killian chuckle.

"Liam, I swear, you are the only one that goes to that school and studies every day." He pads his brother on the back playfully.

"Dad isn't paying our schools to let us party all night long, Killian, you know that. If you ever want to be successful you have to work for it. And besides, not all of us have the looks that will help us through all of life."

Now he's getting mad at his brother, he knew he would bring this up sooner or later.

"Stop it, Liam!" He growls.

"What? You know it's true, Killian. Your good looks helped you a lot last year, nothing to be mad about. If I was as "dashing" as you are I would have used it too."

Instead of turning this conversation into an argument he grabs the grocery list and keeps on walking, placing milk into the card on the way to the bread.

When he turns around to see where his brother is, he sees him talking to a girl with blond hair hanging loose on her back. She's wearing a white tank top and a skinny jeans that perfectly highlights her curves and then he recognizes her. It's Emma.

Not sure if he should stay where he is now or go over them to say a quick hello, he looks at his brother and he waves Killian over.

"Emma, meet my little brother." He hears him say as he walks towards them and he smiles softly as she turns around and sees him.

"Killian?" is all she says, surprised to even see him here.

"Hello, Emma." He replies, scratching behind his ear nervously.

Why did he get so nervous around her? He feels stupid, not being able to talk to a girl. That has never happened to him before and now there was this girl with cute golden locks staring at him.

"You're Liam's brother?" She then asks no one in particular, switching eyes from Killian to Liam and back to Liam again.

"I'm afraid so." Liam jokes and Emma chuckles. "He's the one who inherited the good looks in the family though." He jokes some more and Emma's cheeks turn softly red again.

"Liam." Killian rolls his eyes and gives Emma an apologizing smile.

She smiles a smile at him that makes him gasp for air, not able to say anything anymore, he looks at his brother.

"So, Emma, what are you later today?" Liam asks her and he drifts his eyes up to him. He did not just do that.

"Not much, just relaxing at home I guess." She shrugs, not feeling so comfortable anymore. He can tell she wants to leave, her eyes down to the floor and her left foot making circles on the ground.

"Let's go, Liam." He grabs his brother wrist and pulls him gently to make him follow. But Liam didn't move at all.

"Come hang out with us in a few hours. We both have nothing to do and your dad is there as well. It's going to be fun, I promise." Emma looks up at Killian as if she was waiting for him to say something but he blanked out. He can't believe his brother just invited Emma to hang out with them. His brother is clearly up to something.

"Uh, no thank you. I'm just going to stay home today. See you guys later." She says quickly and runs off.

"Thanks a million, brother. Nicely done." Killian shakes his head and walks away from him. "What? Killian, why are you mad at me?" Liam yells after him.

"Nothing. Never mind." Is all he says and continues to get the groceries, both of them staying silent.

When they arrive at home he doesn't bother to help clear everything up. He walks straight upstairs, to his room. He knows his dad will get mad at him but he doesn't care. He plugs in his electric guitar, puts on the headphones and starts to play.

The music calmed him down, his muscles letting go the built up tension and his mind wanders back to Emma. Maybe her dad was right, she should stay away from him. And he needs to stay away from her as well.

He had to focus on his future, he can't use any distraction right now. Besides, if Emma would find everything out she wouldn't want to be near him anyway. He had to make sure their paths never crossed again. Which was hard in a small town like this. But, he would make it work.

And then, while playing, the image of Emma fades away until she's completely out his mind and he gives into the music.

* * *

 **Reviews? :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Happy new year everyone! May all your wishes and dreams come true in 2016! 3**

 **Thank you all for the follows, faves and reviews! They keep me going so please don't stop reviewing!**

 **A Big thank you to** Captured The Saviors Heart **for helping me out with all my stupid grammar mistakes!**

 **Unfortunatly I don't own any of the characters and they show. They belong to Adam & Eddy. Enjoy this chapter & please let me know what you think of it.!**

* * *

Chapter 5

She noticed her father's pick up in front of the house when she walked around the corner. It surprised her, he shouldn't be home yet. A slight feeling of worry shot through her stomach.

"David?" She opens the door and looks around for her father.

"I'm in the bathroom." He replied and stuck his head around the corner. She sighs in relief when she sees him.

"Everything okay?" She started to put away the groceries as he walks in. He immediately starts to help her.

"Of course, sweetheart. I just got home earlier today because some of the supplies I ordered didn't come in on time. And since there was nothing I could do I went home to spend time with my daughter."

She rolled her eyes behind his back but somewhere inside of her a warm feeling boiled up. She enjoyed hanging around the carnival with him and she wanted to spend some more time with him as well.

"And what exactly did you had in mind to do today?" She asks him, trying to sound nonchalant so he wouldn't notice her excitement.

"Well, we could walk around the town but since you've already been out I wonder if there's still anything left that I can show you. We can get an ice cream after dinner at Granny's and then just see from there?" He asks skeptical.

"Ice cream it is." She smiles at him and when he smiles back she knows that he remembers that they did that almost every time when he was still with her mother. Of course he remembers.

Since they had several hours to kill before dinner time she withdrew to her room. She opened her laptop and quickly checked her email. Of course her friends had emailed her back. She also saw a email from her mother which she opened first.

 _Sweetheart,_

 _How are you? How's your dad? Are you two nice to each other?_

 _We're doing great, we made a stop at a small island of which I can't remember the name and I found an internet café. Everything is going well, the cruise is nice too. We even made some friends here!_

 _I have to go now but I just want to say that I love you and that I miss you. Can't wait to see you again and hear all you're lovely stories. Say hi to your dad for me, okay?_

 _Love you_

She could feel some tears welling up in the corner of her eyes and she quickly blinked them away. She misses her mother, this was the first time in four years that she has been away this long.

She quickly mailed her back to say that everything was fine but that the town is boring and that she can't wait to see her mother again. She didn't feel like emailing her friends back so instead she started to search for a bookstore in town.

She smiled when she saw that there was indeed a bookstore a few blocks from here and closed her laptop. "Daddy, is it okay if I quickly run to the bookstore?"

David looked up from the newspaper and looked at her surprised, it was a long time ago that she had called him daddy. "Of course, sweetheart, do you need some money?" He already pulled out his wallet from the back pocket of his jeans but Emma waved it away.

"I'm good, dad. Mom gave me some money before I left. She also wants me to say hi to you." Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the sparkle in her father's eyes.

"Why did you stop loving mommy?" It came out before she realized it and she looked down.

"Who says I stopped loving your mother?"

"Nobody, never mind." She grabbed her stuff and hurried out the door. Just before she closed it she could hear her father's last words. "I never stopped loving your mother."

 _Why did you ask him that_? She couldn't believe she actually asked him that question. Her dad's answer wandered through her head. Her mother never told her why her dad left her.

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she almost missed the store. She took a few steps back and walked into the store.

The store wasn't really big, a small counter in the middle of the store where a young girl around Emma's age was standing. The girl looked up when the doorbell rang and smiled when she saw Emma. "Hi, welcome." The girl says and Emma smiles back at her.

"Hi. I just want to look around if that's okay?" Emma walks towards her shyly.

"Yeah, sure. If there's anything I can help you with just ask." The girl went back to work and Emma starts to look through the different bookcases.

She stops when she found the suspense section and runs her fingers over the different covers. There's something about how books feel when they are brand new and unread.

She jumps when she hears the girl's voice. "Are you sure you don't need any help? You've been walking around a while now already so I was wondering if you can find anything to your liking?"

Emma looks at her watch, she's been here 30 minutes already. "Uh..sorry, I kind of lost track of the time. But I think I'm good. I'll take these please." She hands her the three books that she's been holding.

"Sure! Are they presents?" The girl smiles at her as she scans the books. "No, they're just for me."

"You're Mr. Nolan's daughter aren't you?" The girl asks just as Emma wants to leave the store.

"Yeah, how do you know that?" Emma tilts her head and looks at her surprised.

"My mother ran into your dad yesterday and he told her that his daughter is staying with him for the summer. Since everyone knows everyone in this town, it wasn't a hard guess that you're the daughter. I'm Belle by the way." She holds out her hand to Emma and Emma shakes it.

"Emma."

"If you ever want to hang out or need a tour around town you can always stop by."

Emma simply smiles and nods politely before walking out the store. It was nice of Belle to show her around town but she didn't come here to make friends. Besides, she has seen enough of the town already.

She decided to walk back to David's via the town square and the docks. She realizes she had brought her MP3 player along and puts the earphones in. She turns on some music and starts to walk.

Her father's answer from before she left the house came back to her mind again. _Who says I stopped loving your mother?_

Her mother never gave her the reason as why her dad left them even though she has begged her a hundred times to tell her. She only had her own guesses. Maybe he cheated on her, maybe he just stopped loving her and her mother. But now that he has said that he didn't stop loving them she was more curious than ever about why her dad left.

As she walks around the corner someone comes rushing beside her, bumping her shoulder in his rush.

"Hey, look where you're going!" She says and rolls her eyes as the person responsible turns around.

"Emma, sorry. I didn't see you." Killian says and he scratches behind his ear, avoiding her by looking at the ground.

"Well, it isn't the first time you didn't see me." She jokes and he chuckles.

Finally looking up at her she sees that his eyes are red, like he has been crying or something.

"Hey, are you alright?" She tilts her head while walking closer to him.

"Nothing for you to worry about, lass." He says and starts to walk away again. She doesn't know why but she walks after him, walking a bit faster to keep up with him.

"Are you sure?"

He doesn't look at her but just simply nods his head and she stops moving. _Mind your own business._ She thought as she watched him walk away.

There's a bench on her left and she sits down, still keeping an eye on Killian. When she sees that he's sitting down on one of the benches near the dock she shrugs and opens one of her new books.

A hundred pages and three drinks later she looks up, noticing that Killian is still sitting on the same bench. She sighs, lays enough money down to cover her drinks and starts to walk towards him.

She doesn't say a word when she sits down at the other side of the bench. She looks out over the water and from the corner of her eyes she sees him looking at her.

"What are you doing here, lass?" He asks.

"Looking out over the water. "You have been staring at it for at least 45 minutes so it must be worth looking at." She looks up at him, still a slight red glow underneath his eyes visible.

"Like there is anything around here to look at." He hisses and then sighs. "Sorry lass, that was quite rude. Guess I'm not much fun today." He runs his hand through his hair frustrated.

She had a feeling that maybe Regina had to do something to do his hurt and she doesn't want to look jealous or anything so she stays beside him, quietly.

Emma too knows what it feels like to have your heart broken. When she was 14 she fell madly in love with Philip, one of the cool kids at school. He had perfectly brown hair, he was tall and just a pretty thing to look at.

Ruby had teased her a lot with her crush. She had told her multiple times to walk up to him, asking him out for a movie at the cinema or anything. But Emma just couldn't do it.

Philip's a year older than Emma and was always surrounded by half of the girls from their school. One time, when Emma and her friends were eating in the canteen, he walked by and gave her a wink. She literally thought her heart would pop up out of her chest.

Emma has never seen herself as a pretty girl, she got bullied enough to believe what people were saying. Despite Ruby's efforts to tell her the opposite, that Emma was indeed beautiful, she never change her mind.

It happened in biology, Emma and Philip were paired to be lab partners. Emma screamed her lungs out internally but tried to look cool on the outside. It took her thirty seconds to say hi back to him.

As the hour went by they didn't speak much but that didn't kept Philip from asking her out. She didn't know what to say, she was utterly speechless while he kept smiling politely at her.

Eventually she said yes and gave him her number. He texted her later that evening to ask if she wanted to see a movie that Saturday at 8. Needless to say that she said yes.

That Saturday her mother gave her some money and her and Ruby went shopping. Ruby named it Operation First Date, which to Emma was rather silly to do. But she's her best friend so she silently agreed with her.

After hours of shopping they had bought her a simple black dress, which to Ruby every girl needs in her wardrobe. Her mother couldn't be more happier when Emma came down the stairs in her new dress and her hair in a lose ponytail. Emma almost fell down the stairs because her mother blinded her with the flash when she took a picture.

"Mom, really?" She asked embarrassed and her mother chuckled. "I don't get to experience this anymore,you only get one first date."

Emma rolled her eyes, looked at Ruby to help her out. But Ruby was smiling as wide as her own mother. "You guys are no help at all. If daddy was here he would have helped me out." She said sadly, she wished her dad could see her now.

"If your dad was here, you wouldn't even be going out." Her mother responded and hugged her daughter. "Now go, you don't want to be late for your first date."

She bid farewell to her mother and friend, grabbed her jacket and purse and walked out.

Emma arrived at the cinema 5 minutes to eight and waited outside as there was no sign of Philip at all. It was getting colder and people started to walk in, the movie would start soon. By the time Emma gave up waiting it was 9 o'clock and she was getting colder by the second.

With tears running down her face she walked back home, embarrassed that she fell for Philip smooth talks. Of course he would set her up, he wasn't interested in her at all. To him it was all a big joke.

Her mother disagreed with her, telling her that he might have a very good excuse as to why he wasn't there and didn't called her. She cried herself to sleep that night, thinking that this was the worst day out of her entire life.

She couldn't have been more wrong, the next day would be the worst day out of her life. Emma always arrived earlier than Ruby and Graham, her friends came with the bus and wouldn't be here for the next 5 to 10 minutes.

As she waited outside for her friends, people started to stare at her and pointed their finger towards her while laughing. Confused she checked her clothes, maybe she was wearing her shirt outside but that didn't seem to be the case.

Finally her friends arrived and she hasn't been so happy to see them. "Ems, I'm so sorry." Ruby said and gave her a hug.

"About what, Ruby?" She asks her friend confused and when she looks at Graham he quickly looks to the ground. Ruby let's go of Emma, her hands resting on her shoulders.

"About what? You mean you haven't seen it yet?" Emma shakes her head and Ruby waves it away. "Nevermind, it's nothing." But when they walk into the school she wants to ask her friend again what's going on but then it was perfectly clear about what her friend was talking about.

In the hallway of the school there were posters with her face on it pinned to the wall. It was Emma, outside the cinema silently crying because Philip hadn't show up. When the kids saw her reaction they started to laugh even harder.

The door opened and Philip came walking in. It looked like he was as surprised as Emma but she didn't care. She turned around and walked towards him. "Emma, I'm sorry. I didn't know any of this." He tried to explain to her but she was already furious.

She slabs him on his left cheek, bare handed and turns around while trying to keep her head up. It was then and there that she promised herself to never fall in love again.

"Did Regina break up with you?" She blurted out. Gosh, why do I keep doing that? She bit her lower lip, not daring to look at him.

"Regina? No it's not her." He looks at her, softly smiling and scratching behind his ear again. "My dad and I had a fight again."

"I got accepted into a college I really want to go to but my dad freaked out about it." He says after a several quietly awkward minutes.

"I'm sorry. Why did he get mad?" She turned her body so she could take a better look at him, his hair was slightly hanging in front of his eyes and she had to keep herself from her hand through it.

"Cause he had my whole future planned out already. I had to go to _his_ old college, had to do what _he_ did before he became the mayor. He wants me to be him and that's not what I want."

Before she knew it she took his hand in hers and squeezed it a bit. "What is it that you want to do then?"

"I want to do what I love. I want to go to Boston, study at the college of fine arts and have a music career. My father never approved my music, never approved me."

She could see some tears well up in the corner of his eyes and moved a bit closer to him, still holding his hand in hers. "Now, I don't believe any of this. How can he not approve his own son?"

"Because I'm not like him, 'cause I'm not like Liam. I never behaved properly, always got into fights at school. Liam on the other hand, he's the one that studies hard and always came home with excellent reports and grades." He says as he looks at her with a pitiful look.

Before she can say anything in return, his lips briefly touches her. It took her by surprise, but after a few seconds she pressed her lips more solid on to his.

He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in further and she places her arms around his neck. She tells herself to stop, this isn't supposed to happen. She isn't supposed to kiss him, she isn't even supposed to be here with him.

 _Emma, stop it. Stop it now!_ She tells herself as she runs her hand through his hair.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Chapter 6 is here and this is my favorite chapter so far. This is the first chapter that has written itself, I didn't have to think about anything before I started to write it.**

 **A big thank you to** _Captured The Saviours Heart_ **for doing an amazing job as beta reader and giving me the best suggestions to make the story sound natural.**

 **If you enjoyed reading this chapter as much it was for me to write, leave a review at the bottom of this chapter. If there's something you don't like or what you would like to read, leave a review at the bottom. Thank you for the reviews so far, they keep me going!**

 **Unfortunately, I don't any of the characters and show.**

 **Enjoy and please leave a review!**

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Chapter 6

"What the hell do you two think you're doing?" He snapped at the sight of his little girl and the mayor's son.

He was on his way to the mayor as he saw his daughter with Killian on a bench at the docks. At first it seemed like they were talking but then, in a blink of an eye, they were kissing

He was mad at Emma. He had told her to stay away from that boy. But most of all he was furious at Killian, he should have known better then to harass his little girl. He had made it perfectly clear at the carnival, _stay away from my daughter._

"Dad!" Emma jumps as she hears his voice, regret in her eyes.

"Mr. Nolan! I'm so sorry." The boy jumped up, scratching behind his ear and avoiding his gaze.

"Yeah, you should be sorry. I thought I made it clear to stay away from her." He placed his hands in his side, looking from one to another. Both of them didn't know what to do. He takes Emma by the wrist, pulling her away from him.

"Aye, sir. That you did. I'm sorry, really. I, we, didn't intend for this happen." Killian says as he points his finger from himself to Emma and back to him again.

"Dad, let it go. It's not his fault, it's mine." His daughter looks up at him, trying to tell him to stop.

"As for you young lady, I thought you were smarter. I told you to stay away from him and now I find you like this. What happened to the girl that always used to listen to me?" He looks at her, the look in his eyes soften as she looks at him regretful.

"That girl doesn't exist anymore. That girl left the minute you left me and mom." Her eyes darkened and he took a step back, shocked at what he was hearing.

"I guess it's time for me to go now." He hears Killian whisper but he ignores daughter looks at the boy and smiles softly at him. "Bye Killian. I hope it works out between you and your father."

The weight of what Emma said is still crushing his heart. But she's right, she's not his little girl anymore. Not only did she grow up a bit, she's still hurt by what he did to her and her mother.

He regretted leaving the two of them daily, wishing he hadn't done it. After all these years he prayed every day that he could go back in time, back to the perfect family he let slip through his fingers.

He wished he hadn't kissed that lady in the bar. He wished he didn't go to the bar that evening. His wife, _ex-wife_ , had asked him to come home early that evening. She wasn't feeling really well and someone had to look after Emma.

But after a few drinks he ignored her texts, which he really shouldn't had (have) done. When it was his turn to get a new round of drinks for him and his 3 colleagues, a woman approached him at the bar.

He doesn't know why it had happened, he was happily married, but somehow his lips landed on hers and they kissed for a second or ten. When he realized what he had done he ran out the bar, ran home with nothing but pure regret running through his veins.

When he got home, he noticed that both of his ladies were in bed. He ran upstairs, as quietly as he could and opened the door to his bedroom. His wife looked up at him, she had been reading a book that she probably had read a billion times since he knows her.

"David, are you alright? What happened?" She puts away her book and sits up more so that she can face him properly.

"Mary Margaret, I'm…" He couldn't do it, he couldn't tell his wife what happened. He was too ashamed, too confused about the whole situation to tell her. So instead, he kissed her on her forehead and apologized for not coming home earlier. She had giggled and told him it was fine, he's here now.

He smiled at her, too afraid to say anything and got up his feet. He promised himself that he would tell her truth tomorrow, when Emma was at school. He didn't want to wake up his little girl, he didn't want her to hear her mother yelling at him. She didn't need to know her dad is a coward.

So, the next morning Emma went to school just like normal. Mary Margaret felt much better then yesterday and she let him sleep off the alcohol. But it wasn't the alcohol that he wanted to sleep off, he wanted to sleep away his memory of last night.

But every time he had closed his eyes, it all came back to him. In ten seconds he had ruin his own marriage, his perfect family. And now he was too much of a coward to tell it to the love of his life. You asshole.

He took a few deep breaths like he could suck in some courage and got out of the bed. He found his Mary Margaret downstairs, reading the newspaper in the kitchen while holding her cup of tea in front of her.

"Good morning, handsome. I have some coffee if you want some too?" She knew him so well. He wasn't really the tea drinker in the morning so she made coffee, especially for him.

"Uh, Mary… We need to talk." He started, rubbing his hand in his neck. He didn't know where to start, didn't know what to say and how to say it.

"Oh, yeah sure. Let me pour in some coffee and I'm good to talk" She turned around and he couldn't hold it in any longer. "I kissed someone else last night." He blurted out.

Just like he expected she lost grip of the coffee mug which fell to the ground and splattered into multiple pieces. She didn't turn around, she just stood there.

"Mary? Please talk to me." He walked up to her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"Do not touch me!" She yelled and finally turned around. Tears were falling down her face and his heart broke, not into 2 pieces but in a billion little pieces. He knew he screwed up but the sight of his wife in tears because of him, killed him.

She had yelled at him, cried rivers and almost slapped him in the face and all he did was look at her. And then, he knew she would said it sooner or later, she told him to go. "Get the hell out of here and don't you dare to come back."

There was nothing he could say or do, but to bag some of his stuff and leave. He would stay a few nights at his friend's house and he would talk to her when the time was right, when she had calmed down a bit.

Before he closed the door, he looked at her one more time. She sat on the kitchen floor, tears still falling down, from her eyes to her chin and eventually they landed in her lab. He was powerless and broken. This is your own damn fault, fool. He closed the door for the very last time, he wouldn't step foot into his house ever again.

That was four years ago and now one of the two ladies he left behind, looked up at him. Her hands in her side, her eyes darker than the night sky. "Emma, please" He started but she interrupted him.

"No, daddy, don't "Emma please" me! You have no right to talk to me like that. You haven't been around for the past four years. People who leave me have no right to tell me what and what I can't do."

She turned around and walked away from him, leaving him behind with nothing but guilt.

He knows it's pointless to go after her so instead, he watches her walk around the corner before he started setting off himself.

When he arrived at his friend's house, he looked around to see if Killian is around somewhere. He doesn't want to face that kid, he is still furious towards the boy about what he had seen.

"David, there you are. Thanks for coming so quickly, the stuff you ordered arrived about 30 minutes ago." David turns around as he hears Brennan's voice.

"Brennan, thank you for calling me. I thought they would arrive tomorrow but I'm pleased to see they're here already." He shakes his friend's hand while looking over his shoulder to see if there's a sign of Killian.

"What's wrong, David?" Brennan asks and he sighs, of course his friend would notice when something's up.

"I found your boy a few minutes ago, making out with my daughter at the docks" He looked at his friend who gave him a smouldering look.

"Now did you? And why are you upset then?" Brennan joked.

"This is not funny at all, Brennan, and you know it." He probably should have stopped talking after that, he wasn't quite sure if he knew about his sons reputation that's going around the town.

"No David, I don't. Why don't you enlighten me with what you mean?"

Like four years ago he stood there utterly speechless. He didn't know what he should say to his friend, his best friend probably. But he had to tell him to the truth.

"There are some rumors going around regarding your son." He started and looks Brennan closely in his eyes. But instead of getting angry he started to laugh. "Since when do you believe in the rumors that are going around?"

He chuckles. "Since they are quite harsh and because your boy was involved with it last year." Brennan pats him on the back. "Let's sit down so you can tell me all about these crazy rumors people are talking about. I could use a good laugh." And so they sit down and David tells him everything.

Last year a few teenagers, including Killian, were involved in a store fire. Gepetto's wood store was set on fire in the middle of the night and the surveillance camera's had caught them. Four boys and one girl had been seen, breaking the window and throwing in a jerry can with patrol and some matches.

Even though the teenagers were wearing ski masks, the police found out rather quickly who they were. Killian and his friends were being called up to the station for questioning and after a few hours they got away with a fine, 100 hours community service in Gepetto's store and a curfew after 10. People accused Killian of starting the fire and has forced his friends to help him out.

"I know my boy isn't the easiest person to be around with, we even had a bit of an argument earlier this afternoon, but I'm pretty sure that he isn't the one who came with that idea." Was all Brennan said. He didn't care about what people tell about his son, he knows him better than them.

"And now you don't want him around your little girl because you think he's of bad influence?" Brennan looks at him and he can feel his cheeks turning red a bit.

"Uh, yeah..." His friends started to laugh. "Come on David, you can't be serious! You know my boys, you practically know them as much as I know them. Killian is a tough one but he wouldn't hurt a fly for fuck sake. Are you sure your girl isn't a bad influence on my boy?" That made David laugh and both of the men eased up a bit.

He still wasn't sure if the rumours were true or not, of course Brennan would protect his son. He would be keeping an eye on Killian and his daughter until he was sure Killian was a good guy. To change the subject he asks about the "argument" Brennan has with Killian.

"Where do I even start? Let me get us something to drink and I'll tell you about it. That garden can wait till tomorrow." He watches his friend get up and relaxes a bit.

After some hours he walked home again. He went home way later than his intention was, there goes his plan to spend time with his daughter. Not like she wants to spend time with you anymore.

When he gets home, he notices that the place is dark and he wonders where Emma is. He opens the door and listens, but there's no sound echoing through the room. She could be sleeping already and he quietly opens her bedroom door.

As he peeks around the corner he stands there in awe as he sees Emma curled up on the bed, her hand covering a book what she has been reading. He walks in as quiet as he can and pulls the blanket over her. He hesitates for a second but then he softly places a kiss on her temple. She moans as he pulls away and he freezes. When she doesn't wake up, he softly walks back out the room.

He grabs a beer from the fridge and sits himself down at the kitchen table. He takes his head in his hands and sighs, what did I do?

He's scared, scared he can't fix this relationship with his daughter. Scared because he spoke out loud that he had never stopped loving Mary Margaret. And now his ex-wife has a new boyfriend, who seems really nice from what he has heard.

But he couldn't help feeling jealous, which he had no right to. He was the one who messed up, the one that told his wife he isn't coming back. He's the one that didn't moved on, the one that kept living in the past.

He takes a few big gulps from his beer and stares at his daughter's bedroom door. He had seen in her eyes that she didn't want to be here and he can't blame her. He has tried for so long to make it up with her. He wrote her letters but she never wrote back. The few times he had called her couldn't have felt any more awkward then they did already.

Before he knew it he had thrown his beer bottle across the room, glass falling on the floor as it broke in pieces. He groans and gets up. Just as he picked up the pieces, Emma's door flew open and she comes running in. "Dad? Are you alright?"

He looks up at her, she looks so much like her mother. "Sorry I woke you up Emma, I'm fine. You can go back to bed if you want." He looks down, even he heard the sad tone in his voice. He starts to pick up some pieces of glass and from the corner of his eyes he can see his daughter rolling hers. Then she sighs and squads. He jumps a bit as she takes his hand in hers.

"You're not fine, dad. Stop lying to me." She squeezes his hand a bit and then loses her grip. Both of them pick up the pieces in silence. It's not like it feels awkward, he just doesn't know what to say to her.

This is the closest she has been to him, except from walking beside him at the carnival. Maybe he was wrong, maybe she does want to fix this relationship as much as he does. _Ease down, Dave. She's not even been here a week_. He thought to himself.

"Dad? Did you meant what you said?" His little girl woke him up from his thoughts. He looks up at her, her cheeks turned red as if she's embarrassed about what she's asking. He immediately knows what she means.

"Yes sweetheart, I meant every word of it. I never stopped loving your mother. Just as I never stopped loving you, Emma." He throws away the glass pieces and sits himself down at the table again. She didn't move, her back resting against the wall as she looks at him.

"Then why didn't you come back for us?" He could see her eyes darken a bit, they had a long way to go before everything was fixed. But his little girl is worth it.

"Oh, Emma. It's far more complicated than you think. I'm not sure if you would understand." He gets up and walks towards her. She stiffens as he stands a few steps away from her.

"Why didn't you try to contact me sooner? It took you two years before you called me! I missed my daddy, I missed YOU" She's gotten angry and he wanted to hold her in his arms right now. Comfort his girl, telling her it would all be okay. But she wouldn't have let him.

"I did try to contact you sooner. I wrote you letters every week for a year and a half. But since you never replied I assumed that you didn't want any contact." Her eyes flew open as he says those words. She never got any of my letters.

"Screw you dad, you didn't send me any letters at all. Not even a birthday card or a Christmas card."

"Sweetheart, I promise I did send you cards and letters." She wasn't listening to him. She turns around on her heels and walks into her bedroom again. He runs his hand through his hair, frustrated. He walks into his own bedroom, opens his closet and when he moves a side his pants and sweaters he finds the box he's been looking for. He takes it out the closet, walks back into the kitchen to close the lights and then, as he walks back to his own room, he stops in front of Emma's.

He looks at the box one more time, takes in a deep breath and places it on the ground in front of her door. He knocks and quickly walks back to his own room. As he closes his door he can hear his daughter's door going open and after a few seconds it's closed again.

When he opens his door again and peeks into the hall way, the box is gone. A soft smile appears on his face and he closes the door. A relaxed feeling hit him as he lays down after changing into a sweatpants and tank-top. _Everything will be okay again_. He thinks to himself before sleep hits him and knocks him out into a deep, dreamless sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Finally, a new chapter! I'm so sorry it took me so long, normal life was being a pain in the ass and I didn't have any energy to write. But chapter 7 is here! I know it's not as long as the previous chapters but I hope you like it. If you have any comments, ideas or just anything please leave a review below. It's highly appreciated as all of the reviews keep me going!**

 **A massive thank you to** Captured The Saviours Heart **for the suggestions for this chapter and taking out the stupid grammar mistakes I keep making. If there is still any mistake left then the blame is on me!**

 **I do not own any of the characters and the show (unfortunatly). Enjoy and please review!**

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Chapter 7

A few days later Emma sits on her bed, her eyes focused on the box that David left in front of her door. She hasn't opened it, yet, scared to find out what's inside it. Her curiousity was beginning to getting the better of her.

To take her mind off of it, she opens her book. After reading the same lines over and over again she caught herself staring at the box again. She sighs and gets up.

The temptation to open it is almost overwhelming, summing up all the will power she places it in her closet. After closing the door she leans against it, letting out a breath of which she didn't know she was holding it in.

Her father's words echoed through her mind. _I wrote you letters every week for a year and a half._

She couldn't help but think copies of those letters were in that box. That made her even more scared to open it, she wasn't ready to read David's words. A feeling is running through her body. _Guilt._ She's spent years hating him for leaving, thinking she was abandoned. Now she knows she was wanted by both parents. Maybe the things her mother said about him were lies. What if he didn't leave because of her?

She walked up to the window and leans out, taking in a deep breath of fresh air. She's not left her room for a few days now. Not because there was nothing to do in this town but to avoid the other thing that's been stuck in her head, the kiss she shared with Killian.

She has no idea what she was thinking when Killian had pressed his lips on hers. She would be lying if she said it didn't feel good. Not that she had much to compare it to, that having been her first kiss.

After Eric and the whole situation there hasn't been anyone else. While Ruby had a new boyfriend practically every other week, she was alone. She always wondered what it would feel like to have someone that makes you feel special, to kiss you whenever they felt like it.

When Ruby had told her about her first kiss, they were 14 at that time, she smiled on the outside. But on the inside she was jealous of Ruby. To Emma, Ruby is perfect. Long, brown hair and green eyes. When Ruby walks into any room all eyes were on her. Ruby had told her many times that she's overreacting but as much as she loves Ruby, there's always a feeling of jealousy.

And now she had experienced her own first kiss. It wasn't like Ruby had described it. Ruby had described it as clumsy and awkward but to Emma it had all felt quite natural. Kinda like breathing, you just went with it. She wondered if Killian had noticed it was her first kiss, he had probably kissed many girls. While thinking about Killian a weird, unknown feeling went through her stomach. One she most definitely wasn't going to dwell on. After all it was a one time thing.

Cause she wanted to take her mind off of Killian again, she pulls the closet door open and takes out the box again. She'd rather think about David and the box then about Killian and this weird feeling. She puts on her shoes, grabs the box and her bag and walks out. She needs to get out of here.

Her first instinct was to go to the harbor, the ocean had always calmed her down. When she was about five years old she went to the sea with her parents. They walked around the border the entire afternoon and somehow Emma lost sight of her mom and dad. She looked around desperately but couldn't find them. As she looked at the ocean she instantly felt calm. It was like the ocean was telling her to stay calm and focused. She jumped when a hand grabbed her shoulder and she squeals as she sees her father looking at her.

Since the kiss happened there, she has to find somewhere else. So she walked into the woods not far from David's house and stops when she sees a bench near a path not far from the town. She places the box behind her and looks around. When she notices that she's alone she places her hands around the lid. She takes in a deep breath and then slowly takes it off.

Inside the box she finds a big bundle of paper. Her hand freezes above it, not sure if she's completely ready for this. She could still back away. She could place the lid back and go home, never knowing what her father had to say.

When she takes it out she sees that it indeed copies of her father's letters to her. She sees something at the bottom of the box and picks it up. It's a picture of her and David when she was about 8 years old. It was taken in the summer when David and Emma were eating an ice cream and just as her mother had taken the picture, her dad had pushed her face into her own ice cream. Which resulted in a brown, chocolate flavored ice cream dot on her nose and her dad laughing.

A tear comes rolling down her face, she remembers this like it was yesterday. She had never seen this picture before, she can't even remember her mother saying she still had the picture.

Carefully she places the picture back in the box and looks at the copies of David's letters. With tears still slowly running down her face she takes out the first envelop and carefully rubs her thumb over the paper. After taking in a deep breath of air she starts to read the first letter.

 _Dear Emma,_

 _I have no idea where to start, how to tell you what's going on between your mother and me._

 _It's been a week since I'm gone and I miss you so much. I miss your smile, the way you correct me when I'm saying something that isn't right… I miss everything about you._

 _I don't think that you'll understand what's been going on between your mother and me but I want you to know that I regret it. I regret it since the moment I left and I will always regret leaving both of my ladies behind._

"Emma? Are you alright?" She jumps as she hears someone calling her name. She wipes the tears away with her fingers and loops up.

"Jones." She sighs and rolls her eyes. Of course Killian would be the one to find her here.

"Are you alright? He asks again, ignoring her sarcasm and sitting himself down next to her.

"I'm doing great." She snaps back at him and quickly folds the letter back up.

"Are you sure? Cause you don't look like you're doing alright.

Tears come rolling down her face again and she can't look him in the eye, she doesn't want him to see her like this. She shivers as he places his arm around her and pulls her in for a hug. They sit like that for several minutes, Emma too surprised by his embrace and unable to move. She finally pulls herself out of his arms as he points at the letters and the box.

"What's that?" She lets him take on of the letters, biting her bottom lip as he unfolds the letter she was reading. She watches him as his eyes move from left to right while reading the letter.

She should tell him to stop. She should tell him that this is none of his business. But the feeling of him besides her feels so good . _Perhaps a bit too good_.

"I'm guessing this is the first time you see any of these?" Killian looks at her after reading the letter. She looks up to him, right into his ocean blue eyes and all she can do is nod her head softly.

"I don't know why my mother never showed them to me. Or why David kept copies of them. Maybe these are the original letters and he never sent them out. She sighs frustrated, she doesn't know what to think anymore. She just wants to understand.

"I'm sure David has sent them out, why would he take the time to write such letters and never put them in the mail?" Killian asks confused.

"I guess it's for the same reason as why he walked out on us; he's a coward." Emma picks up the box and the letters, ready to get away from here. Away from Killian. His presence becoming too dangerous, he was getting in her head. He understood her already and that terrified her. She's built her walls up to protect herself but Killian had begun knocking them down already. It was too fast, too soon. She isn't ready for leaving her comfort zone, yet. But he stopped her, taking her by her wrist gentle but firm. She looked down at his hand around her waist and then back up to his eyes again.

"Slow down, love. I'm sure David had his reasons for leaving you and your mother just as I am sure it wasn't because he lost his sense of courage. I'm not saying I agree with him or anything. It's just that I don't think you should be alone right now." He looks down and scratches behind his ear nervously.

Emma bursts into laughter, was he even serious? "I can take care of myself, Killian. I have done so for the last four years and I sure can take care of myself right now."

"You're a tough lass, or at least you tell yourself that you are, but your eyes are saying the complete opposite. I know that look in your face, it's the same as mine when I look in the mirror. It's the look of being alone." He sets a step towards her and she freezes.

"Who are you to tell me that I am alone? Mister 'I have it all and pretend to be alone to get into a girls head'. You don't know anything about me, my father or being alone. I suggest you get out of my way and stay the hell away from me." She breaths heavily after bursting out to him, a slight feeling of pride running inside her. She had never stood up to anyone like she has done now.

"You really think that I pretend to be alone to get in a girls head? I know my fair share of loneliness, I'm the Mayor's son for fuck sake! To top it all, my own father doesn't even approve of me. To him, I am nothing. To him, I am someone that stands in the way, screwing with his ideals. Don't go all 'who do you think you are' around me when all I wanted to do is being there for you like you were there for me. But if you can't appreciate the help of someone then I'm out of here. Goodbye Emma."

She watches him walk away, his shoulders hanging down defeated. Before she could restrain herself she runs after him, making him face her by pulling at his arm. He looks at her, confused and slightly mad in his eyes which makes his eyes less brighter and she steps back a bit. But then she takes a deep breath in, steps towards him and quickly presses her lips on his. A surprised moan escapes his throat but he instantly kisses her back, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in closer. She wraps her hands around his neck and that weird feeling in her stomach is going crazy.

Killian is the one to let go first, leaning his forehead against hers. She keeps her arms at their place, firmly around his neck and sighs. "I'm sorry", is all she says and he kisses her again. She clears out her head from any thought and concentrates on Killian and his lips on hers.

It is then and there that she knows what the feeling in her stomach is… She's starting to fall in love with Killian Jones.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: A big thank you to everyone who reviewed my chapters the last week! I love it when I read nice words in my mailbox, I really appreciate everyone's words and they motivate me to keep going. So please keep reviewing!**

 **A massive thank you to** _Captured The Saviours Heart_ **for giving me the best suggestions for this (and every previous) chapters. She's the sweetest by thinking that I should ignore her suggestions if I feel like it but it's impossible to ignore something that awesome. This story would not be so awesome without her help! If there's still any mistake left in this chapter than blame me!**

 **I do not own any of the characters and show. They belong to the genius creaters we know as Adam and Eddy.**

 **Enjoy!**

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Chapter 8

"Let's get out of here."

Killian loosens his grip around Emma and tilts up her head to make her look at him.

He has no idea what's come over him. He wanted to walk away when she screamed at him. Who was she to tell him who he was and how he was feeling?

But when she made him stop with only a touch of her hand around his pulse and kissed him, his anger faded away. This girl, with golden locks and green eyes, gave him a feeling he had never experienced. Not once had he felt as if nothing else matters beside her. And he had his fair share of girls.

Everyone around town knew him as a bit of a player. If he wanted to, he could get a girl on each finger of his hand. Both of his hands. If he was completely honest, he wanted to play Emma like he had done with others. It was his way of dealing with his heartbreak. Playing girls like one girl had played him is his way to defend himself from getting hurt again. But when she sat beside him on the bench at the border and been there for him, his feelings had changed.

Of course he had some relationships that lasted longer than 4 weeks. His first and longest relationship was with Milah. He met her in their freshman year. Milah was an exchange student and was assigned in to Killian's class.

She sat in front of him and he caught himself staring at her brown hair, mesmerized by the waves of it. When she had turned around to give him a paper he fell in love with her. Her smile was the brightest, brighter than he had ever seen.

After class he asked if she wanted to go out with him and luckily, she eagerly said yes. Going out wasn't a euphemism then, there was no mention of sex, it was going to see the latest Hollywood blockbuster. With your parents as a chaperone. His father had smiled approvingly, his youngest son first date.

Since he didn't have any experience with dates he was happy it all went smoothly. He even got a kiss when he said goodnight after walking her to her door. After that, they became inseparable.

They dated each other for about a year and a half until Killian found out that she had been seeing Gold behind his back for at least a year.

His world fell apart when he found out, he was head over heels in love with her and she had betrayed him. She had lied in his face, telling him she only loved him and that there was no one else.

He had to admit that he didn't believe his friend August at first. August has always been the one telling big stories and when he called Killian to say that he had seen Milah with Gold at the harbor and looked quite intimate, he waved it off.

But when August texted him a picture of the two of them, he couldn't believe his eyes. It was the day his father held a little party to celebrate that he was elected for Mayor again. Milah promised him that she would come but she had to take care of her little brother first.

Without giving his father any explanation he had left the party, rushed towards the harbor to get a hold on both of them. When he reached them they were about to leave.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" He had screamed and Milah froze. She didn't expect to see him there. "Killian! It's not what it looks like!"

He had never understood why people always had to say that it isn't what it looks like. It was always what it looked like. "What is it then, Milah? Cause he sure doesn't look like your little brother! And he sure doesn't look like he needs to be taken care off. He might look like that after I planted my fist against his nose." Without any thinking he pulled back his arm and launched it into Gold's face.

Gold hadn't seen it coming and he fell onto the ground, screaming like a girl while looking at the blood on his hand. "What the fuck, dude?" He had asked him and Killian laughed.

Punching Gold in the face felt so good, he had bullied Killian for years and finally being able to do what he wanted to do for years offered him a strange sense of happiness.

"Take care of him Milah, he needs it. Be happy with him cause you won't be seeing much of me anymore." With those words he left them alone, he was done with Milah.

He knows he had done the right thing but he was still heartbroken by all of it. She was his first love, his first kiss and he had told her so many secrets no one else knew about. She probably had known him better then himself.

After that, Killian had changed. He was a pain in the ass for his father who blamed it to puberty. But Liam had known it was more than that. After Milah he had grown even closer to his brother then they already were.

His brother had dealt with heartbreak several times and whenever Killian needed to talk he walked into his brother bedroom. One day he had a girl visiting and without thinking he walked into Liam's room, finding him and Elsa underneath the sheets.

Elsa was a real sweetheart, instead of telling Killian to get the hell out of the room she pulled him onto the bed and talked with him. Told him to get over her, Milah didn't deserve such a sweetheart like him and that he would find love again.

Taking in her words he was desperate to find that love again. He had several girls but none of them succeeded in giving him the love he wanted so much.

But then Emma came to town. And as much as he wanted to, he couldn't stay away from her. Something about her attracted him, pulling him closer into her grip and she succeeded.

"Where exactly do you suggest we're going?" She looks up at him, a small smile on her face. He softly places a kiss on her forehead.

"How about my house? I'm pretty sure my dad isn't around and I believe Liam is with Elsa." She took a step back, her eyes darkening a bit.

"Even though your house sounds and certainly looks great, my dad could still be there and I don't want him to see me with his box. I don't want to deal with his satisfying smile."

He stood there in awe as he looked at her. She was gorgeous in every way. Even now, slightly worried about seeing her father and that her pride might be affected.

"Love, it's 4 o'clock. Your father left about an hour ago like he does every day." He pulled her in for another hug and rested his chin on the top of her head. She smells so good.

"Your house it is then." Is all she says and walks towards the bench to gather her stuff. Without saying anything, he takes her stuff. He may be a player but he was always a gentleman, which rewarded him an grateful smile from Emma.

"So…" Both of them say at the same time as they continue to walk back to town. Emma let's out an awkward laugh and he doesn't know what to say to make it less embarrassing.

"You run here every day?" Emma eventually asks and he lets out a breath in relief.

"I do. Not every day, more like three times a week if I have the time." He catches her staring at him and smirks. "And yes, I'm in a very good shape if I say so myself." To his satisfaction her cheeks turn red, which suits her perfectly.

"I might even show you my six-pack if you're lucky." He winks at her and laughs when her cheeks turn red even more. Before he knows it he swings his arm around her shoulders and to his happiness she presses herself into his side.

This felt so much better than it had ever done with Milah. Killian was the one that wanted to do all those romantic, cheesy gestures. Milah however wanted to do nothing in public, not even a small kiss. It hadn't bothered him that time but after they broke up the pieces fell into place

Now he knows that she never wanted to do those things with him but with Gold. Of course he had seen them walking around town every now and then, the town isn't very big. He remembers the first time he had seen them in public, holding hands and stealing kisses from each other every five seconds.

It had bothered him, he gave her so much while she gave him so little. But after a few times it got easier. Not that they spoke with each other but he could at least be near them without punching Gold in the face again.

"Killian?" Emma's voice made him snap back to reality. "Yes,love?" He stood still as he saw the worried look in her eyes and turned her a bit so she would be looking at him. "You alright?" He asks her and she nods. But he wasn't convinced, something is bugging her. "You sure?"

She sighs and looks down at the box under his right arm. "I don't know what to do. I don't know what to think of those letters or about David. I just don't know. I don't even know what to think of this." She says as she points from her to him and back at herself again.

"Ah, I see. Well, those letters will help you with the relationship with your father and about us… I don't know either. I just know that it feels good." Now it was his turn to be the one with red cheeks and he scratches behind his ears.

Before she could say anything in return he started to walk again, Emma following him quickly to catch up with him. She laces her fingers with his and he gently squeezes her hand.

He could feel her body relax when they arrived at his house and she notices that David had already left. He finds Liam at the back of the house, reading a magazine and playing with the straw in his drink. "Killian, you're home already. I didn't expect for you to be home in half an hour." He says and then quickly looks at Emma.

"Emma, nice to see you again." He lets go of her and gives her some space to greet Liam. Killian rolls his eyes as Liam pulls Emma in for a hug, followed by an "oh" from her.

"Eh, yeah. Nice to see you again, too." She smiles at him and her lovely cheeks turn red again. "Is dad home?" He asks his brother and pulls Emma in as Liam shakes his head.

"Where are we going?" She asks as he leads her upstairs.

"My room" is all he answers. He wants to show her his guitar, maybe play a bit for her too. She would be the first girl that would hear him play. Besides Regina of course but she's just a friend. She's not like Emma, no one is like Emma.

"Oh! You're room! It's big!" Emma notices when he opens the door and he laughs. "Yeah, that's what comes with a big house like this." He pulls her in to steal another kiss from her and she eagerly joins him when his lips touches hers.

"I want to show you something." He guides her to his bed and takes a few steps back.

"Killian, I know I'm quite new to all of this but aren't you going a bit too fast?" She jokes and he smirks. "Not that, silly. This."

He picks up his guitar, makes sure they have the right tone and starts to play a little. When he looks back at her he sees a genuinely smile on her face. "Wow, you're really good!" She claps her hands and he scratches behind his ear.

"Yeah, well, not everyone appreciates it like you do." He says while playing a few tones. "Let me guess, your father?" He nods, not looking at her and she gets up from the bed.

"Don't let your father bring you down. I'm not in the position to tell you how you should do anything but I can see it in your eyes when you talk about him. They lose the sparkle they usually have." She cups his face and makes him look at her.

He couldn't help but think that it all feels so natural. Every touch of her feels like it's made for him. With one single touch she can make him forget about everything; the struggle with his dad, the shit that's going around town because of last year. When she touches him, it's just him and her.

"What are you thinking about?" She asks and he sighs. "Nothing really." He can see in her eyes that she doesn't believe him but she doesn't say anything about it as well. He gives her a quick kiss, walks her back to the bed and starts to play again.

They spend the rest of the hour playing music until it's time for Emma to head back home. "Thank you Killian, I had a great time." She says as they walk to her house.

He smiles at her and nods. "You're welcome, lass. What are you doing tomorrow?" He quickly adds before he loses the nerve to do so.

"Not much, I wanted to stay in tomorrow. Maybe read more of David's letters. If I can find the courage to do so. I don't know Killian. I know he's my father but he's also the one that walked out on me and my mother. I've been mad at him for that since the beginning and a part of me is still mad." She stops and sighs.

"But another part of me just wants to stop being angry and spent time with him. You know, get back the years that I had to live without him. I know it sounds silly." She smiles sheepishly and he squeezes her hand.

"No, love, that doesn't sound silly. It sounds as something to look forward too. I get that you're mad, I would be too. But you can't hate him forever. The letters tell you that he has tried to be there for you. You probably feel guilty or something, don't be. No matter what he writes, this is not your fault. And no, I'm not saying you should forgive him so easily. I'm trying to say that you should eventually go easy on him. I know you don't feel that way but he loves you. Everyone can see that. It's only you that still needs to see that."

She smiles at him, swings his hand around her shoulders and presses herself into his side.

When they reach her house he feels the tension coming back to her and tries to take that away by kissing her softly. He had seen her father looking from behind the curtains and he chuckles.

Emma probably has seen it too as she pulls him in for a deeper kiss and he doesn't hold back when he feels her lips on hers. Her hands run through his hair and he pulls her in even closer.

"Bloody hell, Emma. I don't know what I did to deserve such sweetness but I like it." He smirks, none of those words were a lie.

"You were there for me today, which means a lot to me. At first I wasn't so happy that you showed up and I'm still not sure if you followed me or anything, but I really had a great time with you. Thank you for that." She takes his hands in hers and swings them around a bit, she's starting to get nervous.

"I had a great time too. And no, I was not following you. I really do run there about three times a week. You should join me, the forest is a great place." She looks up at him, a sarcastic look on her face.

"I don't run."

"Of course not, love. It's not like you need the exercise. You're already perfectly shaped." He lets go of her hands and swirls her around, a giggle escaping her throat which makes the butterflies in his stomach going nuts.

"You're not bad yourself, Jones. Look, I really need to get inside and I know my dad has been watching us and that you have seen it too. You're just stalling me to keep me away from the rant I'm about to get when I walk into that door. But I'm hungry and I can already smell my dad's meal so I really need to get inside. Thank you, I really appreciate it." She gives him one last kiss and walks inside, letting go of his hand just before she closes the door.

 _Bloody hell, this girl is amazing._

He walks back home with a stupid smirk on his face. She didn't say she wanted to see him again but he wanted to see her again, soon. And when he sees her again, he would pull her back into his arms. Back into where she belongs.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Finally, a new chapter! I'm sorry for the delay, normal life got in the way and I wasn't feeling like writing for a while.**

 **Like always, thank you** _Captured The Saviours Heart_ **for beta reading and giving me great advises!**

 **Please leave a review of what you think, it will make me happy!**

 **I do not own any of the characters and the show**

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Chapter 9

"Dad? I'm home." Emma says closing the front door

He looks at her surprised. She has called him 'dad' a hundred times before but it has been a long time ago since that one simple word sounded as it does now, safe and happy. The sound got stuck in his ears and caught him off guard.

He wants to say something to her about what happened with Killian just a few seconds ago but all the anger that he has built up is now gone. He isn't surprised she couldn't stay away from him. She had always done the things he had said 'no' to.

When Emma was five he took her to the park when her mother was at work, spending some quality time with his daughter. In the middle of the park was a pond filled with ducks and swans. Emma was instantly mesmerized by the beauty of the animals and asked him if she could feed them. He had told her no and even pointed his finger at the sign near the pond.

She stamped her feet like only small kids could and he took her hand, leading her away from the pond. she still refused to step back and kept screaming. It had broken his heart, hearing his princess cry over something he wasn't able to solve but he had to be strict. She had to learn that she couldn't always get what she wanted.

While walking they bumped into Tink, one of their friends and as he talked to her Emma managed to squeeze her small hand free and ran back to the pond. He yelled her name after her but she didn't listen and kept running.

She ran too fast and she forgot that the ground went downhill a bit. He held his breath as he saw her tumbling down and roll into the water. He started to run faster than he had ever run before, worried he would be too late to get her out the water.

Without thinking he jumped in after her and pulls her up, safely into his arms. She coughed and he lets go of the breath he had been holding in. He presses her closely to his chest, one of his hands against the back of her head and tries to climb out the water without falling back in.

"I'm sorry daddy. I only wanted to see the beautiful swans but I was too fast." She started to cry and he rocked her softly in his arms. While rubbing her wet hair out of her face he hushed, thanking whoever would listen that she's alright.

She had been crying softly in the back seat of his car and he didn't know what to say. She kept apologizing again and again while he helped her get under the shower and washed of the dirty water. Her eyes finally dried when she was safe and sound asleep but not before she had promised him so would listen to him from now on. Of course she broke that promise after a day or three.

"Hey sweetie, did you have a great day?" He asks instead of talking to her about her kiss with Killian and he sees her cheeks turning red. A soft smile appeared across his face, it's the first time he sees his princess like this. He had missed her first crush and her first date and a sad feeling runs through his body. If he wouldn't have been so stupid he wouldn't have missed a thing at all.

"I did." He could tell she wasn't going to tell him more and he respected that. They still had a long way to go but for the first time she's been here it feels like they are heading into the right direction. He had known it wouldn't be easy but so far it all went above his expectations. She's only been her a day or four and he's already noticed a difference compared to when she arrived.

A smile has been in her eyes every now and then the last two days and he knows it isn't because of him. It is because of Killian. He's the reason she looks so…happy. He knows he should tell her to stay away from him, again. But he also knows she isn't going to listen to him. So instead of telling her what he really thinks he makes a note to himself to watch them closely and if he hurts his princess, he'll hunt him down.

"Is dinner ready or do I still have time to freshen up a bit?" She suddenly asks and snaps him back to reality. "Dinner should be ready in 20 minutes or so." He answers and she walks away. He is still thinking about his friend's son and his daughter, thinking he might invite him for dinner soon so he can find out what his intentions with his daughter are.

They eat their dinner in silence but David notices that she looks at him every now and then, a hint of nervousness in her eyes. When he's done eating he tilts his head and looks at her. "Is there anything you would like to talk about?" He asks her and she looks back at him.

He can tell that she's trying to find the right words to say and he waits patiently. "Well, I-I" She starts and holds the rest of the words in.

"It's alright princess. You know you can tell me anything." He encourages her to talk to him. He has missed their long talks. Of course they weren't about anything huge before he had left them. Before he walked out like a coward their long talks involved stuffed animals and the tea parties she held with them.

"I opened your box today." She blurts out as she takes her eyes off of him. He sighs in relief, he thought she wanted to talk about Killian. He could handle talking about his letter. At least, he thinks he can handle it.

"Why did you keep copies of them?" She asks just as he is about to open his mouth and he rubs his face with both his hands.

"Because I needed something to remind me that I tried to save our relationship. Whenever I felt sad that you didn't respond to me I looked at them, reminding me that I've tried but that you didn't want to have any contact with me. After a while I even believed that you never got them at all and I was holding on to them just in case."

She doesn't answer but gets up from the table and starts to clean out their plates. She turns the water on to wash them and he can feel the tension in the room. She's just as nervous as he is right now. But he can't blame her for that at all. She's a brave lass. At least she's braver than her father. She definitely has that from her mother. Emma is just as strong as her and he loved them both so much because of that.

"Dad, I'm scared." He snaps his head around to look at her. She stands there, shoulders hanging down and one of the plates underneath the water without doing anything about it. He wants to get up and hold her in his arms but he knows that would scare her off.

"Why are you scared, princess?" He whispers, not trusting his voice right now.

"I'm scared to find the truth in your letters. I've only read one of them and I'm scared to find one of them with an explanation why you left. Why you didn't love me or mom enough to stay with us." Her voice breaks and he knows she's crying softly.

He starts to get mad, not at her but at himself. He's mad because he's the reason she believes he didn't love her enough to stay with them.

"Oh princess, I didn't leave because I didn't love you enough. Or your mother. I left because I was, am, a coward." He gets up and puts his hands on her shoulder, a sigh of relief leaving his body as she didn't push him away.

"Yes, you will find some answers in the letters but not all of them. Why I left is more complicated than what you think. It wasn't because of lack of love, I still love you with all my heart. I've never stopped loving you and I will never stop. You can read the letters or not, it's all up to you."

He lets go of her and sits himself down at the table. Not able to look up to her he can feel the tension between them. "I wish I could take it all back, princess. I know that what I have done is selfish and I know that your mother hates me. I've gotten used to your mom avoiding me but when you didn't want to talk to me or what so ever… My heart broke. I got mad at myself, hating myself for taking the easy way out."

He still couldn't look at her when he sees from the corner of his eyes that she sits herself down next to him. "I don't want to read your letters, dad. I want to hear it from you. I want to hear you say why exactly it is that you took the easy way out." The tone of her voice has changed, it sounds a lot bitterer and his head snaps up. He looks her in the eyes which has darkened.

"I took the easy way out because I thought that was the best thing to do. I broke your mother's heart and instead of fixing it, I took it out of her chest and crushed it."

"What happened, dad? What did you do to break her heart?" She whispers but she managed to make it sound it bitter.

"I kissed another woman. I –"

"You did what? How on earth could you do that David? For fuck sake, what were you even thinking?" She starts to yell and gets up, the chair she sat on falling down. She didn't bother to pick it up, she looks at him as if he just confessed a murder.

"Emma, princess, calm down please. Let me explain." He wants to grab her hand but she pulled it back.

"Don't princess me, David. I am not you're princess right now. I can't believe you did such stupid thing! You should have stayed and fix everything you caused. But no, the man who was my hero for all those years turned into a coward and just walked out!"

There's nothing he could say to her right now, she's right. About everything. Yes, he should have stayed. Yes, he should have tried to fix things with Mary Margaret. But most importantly, he should never had kissed that woman. He opens his mouth to tell her she's right but closes it again as he sees that she's walking away.

"Emma, please, don't go. Let me explain things and..."

"No, David! I have it with you right now. You were supposed to be my hero, my dad. But right now I'm seeing what you have been seeing for the last years, a freaking coward."

With those words she left the house, going to who knows where, and he sinks down to his knees. He takes his head into his hands and just sits there. He starts to scream and punches his fists to the ground. He fucked up, he fucked up badly. Not only now but years ago as well.

He needs to get out of the house but where can he go without bumping into Emma? She would probably go to Killian, she had no one else her who she could talk to and since the two of them are close, he couldn't go to his friend's house.

 _Brennan, where you at? Need someone to talk to, meet me at_ The Jolly Roger

Almost immediately he gets a text back from his friend saying he'll be there in a minute or ten. Since he had no clue of when he would be home and in what state he would be in, he decided to go to the pub by foot.

He walks in, music coming from a live band across the room and a couple tables are taken by costumers. He picks out a table in the far corner, he doesn't want to draw any attention tonight. The waitress asks what he wants and his orders two beers, one for him and one for his friend. Just as the waitress puts down the glasses, Brennan comes walking in.

"Dude! You look like shit, everything alright?"

"I look like shit, do you think everything is alright?" He gives his friend a sarcastic look as he sits down across from him.

"What happened? Your girl is at my place so I'm guessing it has something to do with her?"

He had known she would go there, the boy had her in his grip and she fell for it. She had seen it in her eyes when she came walking in after their kiss. She's falling for the kid faster than he wants to. He has to admit, the boy is charming in his own way but he still doubts if he's good enough for his girl. Time could only tell but he will keep an eye on the two of them.

"You've got that right." He says before he takes a sip of his beer. Brennan looks at him with eyes that tell him to keep talking and he sighs. "I left her a box with letters a few days ago. Letters from me to her. I've kept copies of them, who knows why I did that, and she read one of the letter today. So when we were having dinner I could tell something was bothering her. I asked her what's wrong and she starts to tell that she's scared and that she has read one of the letters."

"Why have you kept copies of the letters?"

"I told her I kept them so that I could tell myself that I have tried everything to fix our relationship." He picks up his beer, drinking it all up in one gulp.

"And how's that working out for you?"

He waves his empty class at the waitress that's looking at him, stalling time to answer Brennan's question. There's a long silence between the two of them but Brennan knows his friend, they had talks like this before.

When David just arrived in town he was a mess. He had spent his first night in town at The Jolly Roger for hours, drinking beer after beer until he hardly could stand on his feet. After an hour or two, Brennan had walked in and looked at him. In a small town, it's almost impossible for Brennan not to know all the residents. When David looked at him with attitude he came over to his table and without question, sat himself down.

"You're new in town, aren't you?" He said, ignoring David's mad look at him.

"I might be." He changed his look from mad to sarcastic, hoping the stranger would leave him alone so he could drown in his own sorrow more. He wants to forget everything and just get himself as drunk as possible. But the stranger doesn't seem to be going anytime soon as he orders something from the waitress that's passing them by and looks back at David.

"My name is Brennan and I'm the mayor in this town. What I would like to know is who the hell you are and why you're drinking so much?"

David looks at him surprised, he somehow didn't expect for the stranger to be so rude. But, he wasn't here to make any friends. He came to this town with the idea to stay here for a few days and then move on to the next town. Until he had found his new home. If he could find a new home that is.

"My name is David, I just came into town after I've left my wife and daughter and now I'm drinking my sorrows away. Is that alright with you, Mr. Mayor?"

After that, both of them had been sitting at the same table for hours, David drinking beer after beer and Brennan letting him talk for hours until he fell asleep on the table. He helped him up, dragged him to home and let him sleep in the guestroom. The next morning when David woke up he had the biggest hangover in years, completely disorientated where he was. It took him a few minutes to remember everything that had happened the night before, him drinking and the mayor listening to him. He must have taken him to his own house, which is weird as they met last night and he doesn't know the slightest thing about the guy.

It useless to say that they became friends after that. Brennan helped David out with finding a place for himself, listened to him when needed and help him set up his business. David owes him everything.

"It isn't working out at all. When I told her the reason why I left she got mad at me. I can't blame her though, I would be mad too if I was her. So she just left. Said she had enough of me and ran out the door. What do I do now, Brennan? I've fucked up big time and instead of getting her back, I'm pushing her further away." He ordered another round of beer for both of them, they would be here for quite some time and he knew Brennan would tell him to stop drinking after another beer or two.

"What did you expect, David? That she would come running into your arms after all those years like nothing happened? You did this to yourself, mate and you're the only one who can make it up with her. Why don't you stop drinking after this one and take your ass home? You know, just in case she comes home." A stupid grin appeared on Brennan's face and David knows he's talking about his daughter and Killian.

"Your boy seduced my girl, you know." He said, smiling back at him.

"Ha! Blame my boy all you want. We both know our children, they did this to themselves. Let them be happy, we'll just see where it goes. As long as my son still makes the right decisions about his future, everything is fine with me."

David knows that Brennan wants to let Killian go to the same college as his dad was in when he was his age. He also knows that Killian doesn't want to come near that college even if you give him a million or two. He can't blame the kid for that, he wants to go his own way. But his father doesn't let him make his own decisions. As much as he loves his friend, he doesn't understand why has to make his son chose the college he wants too. Of course he doesn't told Brennan how he feels, his friend is a stubborn ass.

They sit there talking for an hour or two more about anything but their children and when it's finally starting to get dark outside, he gets up and heads home. Ready to face whatever mood Emma is in when he sees her again. If only he could take back all the decisions he had made in the past. If only he hadn't left his family, his girls, his everything.

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 ** _Reviews?Thoughts?Comments?Likes and dislikes?_**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: I've been meaning to post this earlier this week but once again, normal life got in the way.**

 **As always, a massive thank you to** Captured The Saviours Heart **for helping me get rid of the ugly mistakes I make and suggesting the best things to make the story perfect!**

 **Thank you to those who left a review at the end of the previous chapter, I love hearing all your thoughts/comments etc.**

 **Please leave a review at the end of this chapter as I'm really curious what you guys think. To me it feels like this isn't the best thing I've written and kinda upsets me.**

 **Anyway, I do not own any of the charachters/tv show.**

 **Enjoy!**

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Chapter 10

"Killian? Killian, are you home?" Emma knocks on his door, frustrated that no one is answering.

"Emma? What's wrong?" Killian finally opens up the door and she relaxes. Seeing his face makes her forget her own problems. He has changed his clothes since she saw him a few hours ago. Was it really just hours ago that she had seen him? It feels like she hasn't seen him in years. He's wearing a baggy jeans, a red t shirt with a pirate skull which was cute and nerdy and flip flops.

"It-it's my dad." She stumbles, not quite sure of why she came her. She didn't intent to go here, she had wanted to be alone. But somehow her feet brought her to him and now she feels like turning around and walking away.

"Your dad? Is he alright? Is he hurt?" He takes a step towards her, taking both of her arms in his hands with a concerned look in his eyes.

"He's fine, I think. He's not hurt or anything. It's just that, uh, we got into a fight and I might have hurt his feelings. Like a lot." A single tear escaping her eye, makes its way down her face.

"Come on in, Emma. We'll talk in my room. Would you like a glass of water?" He drags her in gently, not rushing her into anything and she's thankful for that. Somehow he knows exactly what she needs. She nods softly to answer his question and follows him into his kitchen. She didn't notice Liam until he called her name, causing to jump her. "Everything alright?" He asks and because she didn't trust her voice right now she simply nods at him. Killian hands her a glass of water and gestures to walk upstairs.

In his room she sits down at the edge of his bed and takes a small gulp from the water. She watches Killian as he takes his chair from his desk and sits down in front of her. "Do you want to talk about it?" He whispers and she sighs.

"I don't know." He takes her hands in his and gently rubs them with his thumbs. "It's okay, love. You don't have to talk if you don't want to. We could do something else, watch a movie or something. Or just sit here silently if that's what you want."

She doesn't answer him and just enjoys the moment, still rubbing her knuckles with his thumbs. Unlike Emma's body, his hands are warm and she notices how well her hands fit into his. She looks up to him, his blue eyes staring back in them with a bit of a sparkle in them. She could get lost in those eyes if she wasn't careful.

"I had a fight with my dad." She blurts out. "At least, I think I had a fight with my dad." He smiled at her, encouraging her to keep talking.

"I told him about the letters, that I had read one of them and that I'm scared to find more answers in them. I do want answers but I'm also scared to find out what those answers are. So he started telling me that he took the easy way out but that he hadn't leave us because he doesn't love us anymore. He didn't even try to fix things with mom, he just packed up and walked out the door without looking back." She takes in a deep breath and continues, never taking her eyes of him.

"He-he told me, uh, that he had taken the easy way out because he had kissed another woman and I just got mad. I don't think I've ever been as mad as I am now. How could he do that? He told me that he had never stopped loving mom or me but he somehow stopped loving her when he kissed that other woman. How could he have done that?" She asks again as if Killian had all the answers. She turns away but Killian cups her head and makes her look at him. His face is only a few inches away from hers, she could almost feel the breath that escapes his mouth.

"I don't know why he had did that, love. Your father is the only one that can you tell the rest of that story. I am sorry things happened like this. It is okay to be mad at your father. I don't know what I would have done in his position even though kissing someone else when I am committed to someone isn't really my thing. It looks like you don't even know half of the story and as much as you're mad at him, I think you should talk to him again. Let him explain his side of the story and decide what you want to do. If you don't want to talk to him, which I completely understand, you can also read his letters."

She knows he's right, she should talk to her father again. But not right now, she still has to process the idea of her father with another woman. She leans in some more to give him a small kiss, just because he's there for her, and just as her lips touches his the door flies open and his dad looks at them from around the corner.

"Oh, hey Emma, I didn't know you are here. Killian, I'm out for a few hours and I will give Liam some money to order in pizza for the two of you." His eyes going from Emma to Killian and back to Emma again, taking in the situation between his son and the daughter of his best friend.

"I am guessing her dad called you?" Killian asks him as he takes his hands from her head. Emma sighs, his dad had ruined the moment and looks away from them.

"Exactly. By the looks of her it might take a while before I get back. If you would like to stay for the night, Emma, there's a guestroom just down the hall." He nods at the two of them and walks out again, closing the door behind him. Emma's mouth drops, did he really just tell her she can stay here for the night? With Killian? In the same house?

"So" Killian eventually says and when she looks back at him she smiles as she sees that he's scratching nervously behind his ear. "Would you like to stay for the night? You know, across the hall in the guestroom?"

Emma laughs harder now, his nervousness is adorable. "Slow down, tiger. I might have come here because I didn't know where to go else but I am sleeping at David's tonight." Now it's her turn to take his hands back into hers and squeezes them a little.

"Yeah. Sure. Never mind. I don't even know why I asked it." He tries to smile away his nervousness by smiling a sheepish grin but she can see through him. She gets up from the bed and takes place on his lab, swinging her arms around his neck. "You are adorable when you are nervous" She jokes and plants her lips on to his. He immediately responds and his arms pull her in closer.

"What is it that you want to do now?" Killian asks as he breaks contact first for a breath of air. He swipes a string of her hair out of her face and gently slides it behind her ear. He rubs her cheek with his thumb and smiles when she blushes slightly.

"Well, I am perfectly fine with what we are doing right now." She leans her forehead against his, enjoying the feeling of her body against his. She still doesn't know much about the whole love thing but she knows for sure she can get used this. Suddenly the thought of her leaving in about five weeks suffocates her. Killian immediately feels that there's something wrong and pushes her away a bit. "Love? What's wrong?"

"What is this what we are doing, Killian?" She whispers. She came her to talk about her and her father, not about her and Killian. Even though she doesn't know what she is doing, she doesn't want to lose this as well.

"Some say that when people have their lips against each other it's called kissing. What do you think that we are doing?" She can't help but smile cause his cockiness.

"I know what kissing is, silly. I am just wondering where this is going. I didn't come here to have a summer fling or whatever it is called. I have zero experience with this and I don't know what to do. It's all a bit much and I will be going back home in 5 weeks and…" He cuts her rambling off by kissing her again, softer this time.

"Love, stop worrying. You are thinking way too much. Why don't we just enjoy this experience and see where it goes? If it makes you feel any better, your kissing skills are way better then someone who's more experienced."

"Ha-ha, aren't you funny." She says sarcastic and rolls her eyes. He laughs and starts to tickle her which she can't stand and within seconds she is doing her best to get out of his grip. She squeals as he tightens his grip and tickles her more, soon to lead both of them rolling over the floor. She tries to tickle him back but he is too fast and too strong, she just can't reach him. Even though he has a firm grip on both of her wrists with one hand, he does not hurt her. When she yells for mercy between her laughs, he stops immediately. Both of them heavily breathing but smiles on their faces.

"I love the way you laugh, it's adorable." He says as he catches his breath and Emma's body starts to warm up immensely. While he sits back to catch some more breathe she jumps closer to him, tickling him like he did to her. But of course he has seen her coming and before she knows it she's on her back again while Killian tickles her again. "You can't seem to get enough of this. Sorry love, there is no way you can beat me with this game. Not even my brother can do so." She tries even harder to get out of his grip and soon tickling turns into a soft version of wrestling. Somehow she manages to get out of his grip, turns him on his back and sits on top of him sideways. "Looks like you've bested me, love"

"Why do I get the feeling you let me win?" She says, her head only inches away from his. "What makes you think that, love?" He giggles, kisses her and before she knows it he turns her around and she's underneath him again. "Had enough yet?"

"Of you? Never." An approving groan comes from his throat and he kisses her again before resting his head on her shoulder. She runs her hand through his hair while the other strokes his back up and down. They lay there for a while and Emma starts to think he has fallen asleep. Suddenly, the door opens and Emma is ready to jump up but Killian presses her body down with his.

"Woah kids! It's broad daylight!"

"Go away, Liam. It's none of your damn business." Killian says without looking at his brother. Emma can feel his body tighten with tension and starts to wonder what's going on.

"Chill out, bro. There was a time you used to appreciate my humor. I just came in to tell you that pizza should be here in an hour. But I guess you two are way too busy to think about eating."

Killian gets up with ease, grabbing a pillow from his bed and throws it to Liam. He has seen it coming and closes the door just in time. Killian picks up the pillow again, walks back to the bed and throws himself on it, a sigh escaping his mouth. Emma doesn't get up, she has seen the darkness in his eyes and she doesn't know what to do with it. So she just lets him be and stays flat on the ground. After a minute or two her back starts to hurt but since he hasn't spoken yet she stays there.

"Killian?" He doesn't respond to her but she can feel that he's still awake. "What's going on between you and Liam?" She can hear him move, probably turning onto his back, followed with a sigh.

"Nothing, love. Now will you get that pretty ass of yours off the ground? Your back must be hurting by now." Her cheeks turn red but she gets up anyway, sitting herself down at the end of the bed. She looks at him, his eyes still a bit dark but his face has softened.

"I don't know what's going on with me and my brother." He says after a few minutes and this time its Emma's turn to encourage him to keep talking. It is her turn to be there for him like he has been for her. "We were close, we have always been close. But, last year, a few things happened and somehow we grew apart I guess. That doesn't even make sense, I know that. Please don't ask me what has happened last year, I don't want you to know. Maybe you already do but I don't want to talk about it." He looks at her, shame visible on his face and she crawls up to him, stopping beside him and taking his hands in hers.

"Hey, it's okay. I am not interested in what happened last year. I was just wondering why there is so much tension between the two of you. It's the same tension I get between you and your father and I just want to make sure you are okay." That isn't a lie, she does want to make sure he is alright. She might know him for almost a week now but the thought about him getting hurt is too much for her. She couldn't stand to see him suffer any pain, her heart aching while thinking of it.

"You don't have to worry about me, Emma. You have your own problems to think of. It's nice that you care but I can do fine on my own."

"On your own?" She looks at him shocked.

"That's not how I meant it, you know that. Come here." He opens his arms and she lets herself slide into them, her head resting on his chest.

"You need to talk to him, Killian. He is your brother. I saw his eyes when he said that you used to appreciate his humor, he misses his younger brother. And I can tell by the way you look that you miss your brother too. Just talk, without fighting." She feels his heart speeding up and she's worried he gets mad at her. But then a leap of breath escapes his mouth and his heartbeat slows down.

"You are right, love. I should talk to him. But not now. I am not going to ruin this afternoon by talking with my brother."

Suddenly, Liam yells that the pizza has arrived and they get up. They smile softly at each other and Killian presses a kiss on her forehead. She grabs his hand, lacing her fingers with his and the two of them walk downstairs. Before they reach the kitchen, an idea pops up into her head and she lets go of Killian's hand who looks at her with pinched eyes.

"Emma?" Is all he says as she grabs her stuff.

She leans closer to him and presses her lips on his cheek. "Talk to him." She whispers and turns around. "Goodbye Liam!" She yells over her shoulder, not looking back at Killian or Liam.

Killian is right, she has her problem to deal with and she wants to be home before David. She will talk to him again, without fighting this time, but not tonight. Tonight she just wants to sleep. Her phone vibrates in the pocket of her jeans, an incoming text message. Probably from Killian but she isn't going to read it. He needs to focus on him and Liam. She'll know when the two of them talked. She puts her earplugs in, music on and walks home with a clear mind.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello lovely readers! Chapter 11 is here and it is time for some heart to heart between the Jones brothers. Please leave a review at the bottom of this page. I love to hear your thoughts, ideas and love regarding this fanfiction. You might not believe me but reviews are the thing that keep me going!**

 **As always, a huge thank you to** Captured The Saviours Heart **for being the best beta reader and giving me amazing suggestions! This story wouldn't be as good as it is now without her help. If there are still any grammar mistakes of any kind, the blame is on me!**

 **I don't own any of the characters and the show.**

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Chapter 11

Everything alright, brother?" He says as he watched his younger brother standing in the doorway.

He notices a difference in Killian, something has changed since he met the blonde lass. There was a sparkle in his eyes, one that has been missing for so long.

Things have changed between the two of them, a tension that had built between them.

They have always been close, closer than anything or anyone. But a few years ago it all changed. He went to college and Killian was left behind with their father. He knows their father had been hard on Killian. Despite what Killian thinks, he had had to go through that too.

For years his father has pushed him to go to the college of his desires but somehow he managed to get out of it and follow the path he wanted. His father hadn't been happy about the choices he had made for himself but he had since given up the urge to fight about it to him.

The knowledge that Killian is going through the same thing as him made him come back. He knows whatever happened last year is taking its toll on Killian and he hates to see his brother like this.

They both had to deal with a lot in the last few years but things have been harder on Killian. The sudden death of their mother was the first to put out the light in his eyes.

It was a Wednesday evening in March. Mother was out with friends, something she tried to do every two weeks. Her family were her priority but with a hectic job and two teenagers, she needed some time for herself.

Their mother had always been the responsible one. "Whatever you do boys, don't drink and drive". As usually she didn't drink that night went home with her own car as her friends had to call several cabs.

It was a relatively quick drive home, usually no longer than 45 minutes. As much as she loved it in Storybrooke, she and her friends always tried to discover new places.

Their mother was a huge fan of music, something which had undoubtedly influenced Killian, and she often took the trip back to crank up the volume. That's what she was doing when she stopped at a red light just minutes from home. Two thugs saw an opportunity and shot her straight in the head. It was a blind attack, it could have been anyone but it wasn't it was their mother. All they took was a couple hundred dollars. $200 dollars was what someone's life was worth to them. $200 dollars left a family distraught. Two sons without a mother.

He woke up from the red and blue lights dancing around on the walls of his bedroom. He instantly knew something was wrong and rushed out his bed to wake up Killian.

"Wake up, little brother", he whispered while gently shaking Killian awake. "Liam, what's wrong with you? It's still dark outside."

Killian was never the one to wake up easily but as soon as he said that there were cops inside the house, his eyes flew open. "Mother!" He rushed out his bed as well but before he could run downstairs, Liam stopped him. He placed one finger against his lips, silently telling Killian to stay silent.

He swings one arm over the shoulder of his brother and pushed him out the room, gentle but certain. At the top of the stairs the hold still and as they tried to overhear the conversation downstairs. The house was too big to hear everything but when they heard the words "shot in her head", they looked at each other in shock.

He was the one to move first, leaving his brother behind as he ran downstairs. When he reached his father he looked at him, seeing the shock on his face and the tears in his eyes. The two police officers asked if there was anything they can could do and when father shakes shook his head, they leave.

When he walked back up after 30 minutes, Killian was still standing where he left him. Tears were rolling down his face, quietly sobbing over their mothers dead. He walks up to him and pulled him in his arms, hugging him tightly while Killian cries his eyes out.

After that moment Killian changed. He became more silent, shutting his brother out and became more resistant towards their father. He locked his self-up in his bedroom, playing his guitar until his dad would walk up, yelling that he needed to lower the noise.

The year after their mother's death Liam moved out to be closer to college but he kept in touch with his brother. They used to have long conversations about anything but now, the conversation died after the "how are you" and "fine".

He suddenly remembers how they scared their dad. Their mother made sure she kept him occupied as her boys were looking for a perfect hiding spot. After five minutes, their mother came walking in the kitchen with their dad and the boys would jump out of their hiding spaces, which made their dad jump. The boys found it extremely funny and ended up rolling around on the floor, laughing out loud.

While thinking about it, Liam starts to snigger and Killian turns around to look at him. "What's so funny?" he asks as he comes walking towards the kitchen counter.

"Nothing, little brother. I was just thinking about the time that we scared dad. Do you remember that?"

"For the billionth time, it's younger brother and yes, I do remember that. We were hiding in the kitchen cabinets, weren't we?" Killian starts to snigger as well. "We were so dumb at that age.". Killian sits himself down and takes a slice of pizza.

"We still are sometimes, Killian. That will never change." He winks at his brother, quite happy that they have some time for each other. It's been a while since it was just the two of them, talking about all sorts of stuff over a pizza.

"So." Liam begins. "What's up, Killian?" He manages to get out of his mouth, hating himself for being so uncertain around the one person that means the most to him. He can tell Killian is nervous too as he catches him scratching behind his ear.

"Not much really." Killian shrugs his shoulders and Liam sighs. Time to have a big conversation with Killian.

"What happened to us, brother? We used to be so close and now it's like I hardly know you anymore. I miss my litt… younger brother."

Killian tosses his pizza slice back into the box, clearly not hungry anymore.

"I don't know Liam, you tell me. After all, you were the one that left for college when I needed you the most. With that, I'm not talking about mom's death."

He lowers his head, not able to look Killian directly into his eyes. He knows Killian is right, he had left for college when Killian needed him.

Six months before college started, Killian hooked up with a Milah and he was head over heels in love with her. Milah's betrayal was the second and last to put the flames in his eyes out. His girlfriend at that time, Elsa, talked to the young boy with the broken heart and that made Killian feel slightly better for a while. However, after a few months, Killian somehow got into a depression and started to lock himself into his bedroom again. When his depression was at its highest, Liam had to leave for college and the first few days he didn't have the time to talk to Killian.

Killian had sent him message after message and even though he told himself to answer them after his last class, he never did because he was too exhausted. That was also the end of the bond they had. Killian never forgave him for leaving him in the dark and Liam couldn't blame him, he had never forgiven himself as well.

"I know, Killian, I know. I do know it doesn't make up for it but I still feel bad about it, even after all these years. There is no excuse good enough, I should have been there for you, no matter what. I didn't and I blame myself for it every day." He lets out a sigh of relief. He had wanted to speak these words for so long but he never found the right moment to do so.

"You are right, Liam. No excuse is good enough. I needed someone, I needed you! Not only did you leave me behind, you ignored me for days as well. I get that college can be rough in the beginning but was it really that hard to find five minutes to talk to me?"

He's feeling more and more that this is going to be a long, tough conversation and he walks up to the fridge and pulls out two beers. He opens both of them and hands one to Killian.

"Look, you know it wasn't my intention to let you down. You will know what I mean when you start college yourself. It is nothing like high school."

A long, dragging silence falls between them. Both of them look at the table and taking a few sips of their beers.

Finally, Killian sighs and starts to talk again, his voice lowered. "Liam, I was going through hell. Mom's death is still a big struggle for me, you know that. When I was with Milah, the world started to look brighter again but the darkness was still there. I have always looked up to you and I still do. I can't do it all on my own Liam. I've tried but I failed."

He does not know what to say after these words. "You know what, Killian. How about we let this conversation rest for a while and just hang out. Just you and me, like old days?" He wasn't sure his brother would let this go so fast, he's really holding a grudge against him. But then his brother surprised him by looking up to him with half a smile and nods.

"That actually sounds great."

The air between them started to feel more awkward by the second, both of them nervously pacing from one foot to the other. He's thinking of something light to say but his mind is blank. He catches his brother looking at the front door again.

"So, Emma and you are getting quite serious?"

"I wouldn't say so as there isn't anything yet I think." Killian scratches behind his ear again. Nobody knows from who he has that, no one in their family had such thing.

"I'm not blind Killian, I see how the two of you look at each other. The last time I've seen this sparkle in your eyes was with…" He didn't finish his sentence as he was about to say Milah.

"Milah. It's alright, Liam, you can say her name. I think you are right, it has definitely been awhile since I've felt like this." He pauses for a few seconds, sighs and then continues. "It scares me to feel like this. I don't want to hurt her and I don't want to be hurt again."

He lays a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Don't do that to yourself, mate. You have just met the lass and you're already thinking over your head. Why not enjoy it and see where it leads to?"

He receives a soft smile from Killian and he changes the subject. "Have you found a college yet?"

"Aye. I'm hoping for Boston University to let me in. They have an amazing music department."

"How does dad feel about that?"

Killian shrugs. "I don't think he likes it but he hasn't said anything about it. It wouldn't matter if he did say something, I have made my mind up and he's not going to hold me back. You made it out and so will I. Has dad been this tough on you too?"

Before answering that question, he walks up to the fridge for another beer and hands Killian his second. "Are you kidding me? We have fought almost every day until I left. He wanted me to go to the same college as he did, just like he is telling you. I know what's going on here Killian, I know he is the same with you as he was to me. When will you hear anything from Boston?"

"I'm hoping to hear from them by the end of next week so I can get my stuff together."

"I'm sure you will be accepted, brother. You will make it out of here just like I did."

He gets up from his chair, picks up the cold pizza and throws it out. "Let's order a new pizza and watch a movie. No talking, just eating and some relaxing." He picks up the phone and starts to dial the number of the pizzeria.

"Sounds good to me but I'm deciding which movie we're watching." Killian got up too and starts to run to the living room, leaving a trail of laughter behind him

A smile appears on Liam's face, it was so good to hear Killian laugh again. From now on he will never fail on his brother ever again.

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 ** _What do you guys think, are the brothers being to hard on themself? Anything you liked or didn't like? Something you want to see in the future of this story?_**

 ** _The next chapter will be a David and Emma chapter, what do you guys hope to see?_**

 ** _Leave a review and I might use your ideas..._**

 ** _Thank you for reading my fanfiction :))_**


	12. Chapter 12

**_Hello lovely readers! Thank you for all the reviews, likes and follows. They seriously mean a lot to me. I never imagined that people would like this story and I am extremely happy with all the love!_**

 _ **So, chapter 12. From this chapter you can expect friendship, breakfast in bed and perhaps some making up...**_

 _ **As always, a massive thank you to**_ Captured The Saviours Heart _**for helping me out! If there are still any mistakes left... You guys know who to blame...**_

 _ **Sadly, I don't own any of the character and the show.**_

 _ **Enjoy and please leave a review at the bottom of the page ;)**_

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Chapter 12

Before going home she needs to eat something. The pizza in Killian's kitchen smells like heaven, her stomach growling. Since she has no idea where that pizza came from she forces herself to walk into Granny's for some food.

It's 8 pm and there aren't many customers inside the diner. A few tables are taken and only the grumpy, middle aged man, is sitting at the bar. When Granny spots Emma, a smile appears on the ladies face and Emma smiles back while walking towards the bar. She sits herself down a few seats away from Grumpy, she doesn't want to make the same mistake twice. He looks up to her and Emma is surprised to see a smile on his face. It's a sarcastic smile but a smile is a smile.

"Emma, how lovely to see you again. What can I get you, sweetheart?" To Emma's surprise, the lady hands her a coke. After only a few times she has been her, Granny knows what she likes and she likes the woman more and more.

"Hey Granny. I would like a hamburger and some fries, please." Granny nods and starts to walk into the kitchen.

Just as Emma takes a sip of her coke, the bell rings. Emma turns around to see who has entered the diner and she's pleased to see that it's Belle, the girl from the bookstore.

"Belle, come sit with me." She says and the brunette walks towards her, gratefully sitting herself down next to Emma.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Belle asks her while adjusting herself better on the stool.

Talking to Belle makes Emma think of her friends back home, it has been to long since she talked to them. She really has to send Ruby an email back tonight. If she waited another few days, Ruby would be getting on a plane to come see if she's still alive.

"I'm alright, just getting something to eat before heading home." She looks up directly into Granny's eyes who places a coke in front of Belle as well. Before walking back into the kitchen she says that Emma's order will be up in a few minutes and disappears.

"That's nice. Is your father here too or?" Emma isn't prepared for that question and wishes that Belle hadn't ask it. She starts to smile sheepishly and focusses her eyes on the counter.

"No, he's… occupied with something else."

She could see from the corner of her eyes that Belle isn't buying what she's saying and she curses in herself. She has always been a pretty bad liar.

Her mother always said that it's a mother's thing to know when their kid is lying which Emma never believed. Ruby is an excellent liar who never got caught by her mother. Ruby once told her that she gets this certain expression on her face when she's lying. Her eyes widen and her mouth becomes a thin line.

Last year she used Ruby to tell her mother a lie and that they were only going to stay at Ruby's for some pizza and movies. Her mother approved and she started to pack some stuff. She would sleep at Ruby's but they wouldn't be watching any movie.

At 10 pm, both of them sneaked out Ruby's place to go to a bar a few blocks away. Graham would meet them there, since he's the oldest of them he was allowed to go out already. Emma and Ruby were extremely nervous, being only 15 could get them into serious trouble.

She never understood why there's a bouncer outside the bar as nothing really happened and only local teenagers come to this bar. It's a Saturday evening and the place was already crowded. As they make their way to the bar, Emma looks around. Beers are flowing and everyone's having a good time. In the right corner stands a couple that seem to have eyes for each other as one of their friends talked to them but they didn't respond back.

At the bar Emma orders a coke while her friends were having a beer. It might be her first night out and of course she's curious about alcohol and being drunk, she doesn't want to jump into it straight away. They walked away from the bar to find a table to sit and luckily some costumers seem to leave early. They sat themselves down and Emma smiles at her friends.

Just as they are talking, which seem to be more like yelling as the music volume is pretty high, a boy comes walking up to their table and starts to talk with Ruby immediately. Emma rolls her eyes, looks at Graham and both burst out into laughter.

A few drinks later, Ruby left with the boy and Emma's drinking her first beer. After the first gulp she starts to cough and punches Graham on his arm when she finds him mocking her. "The first few gulps are always the hardest, just keep drinking it and it will get better." Graham yelled in her ear. She picks up the bottle, takes another few gulps and had to admit that after a few it actually does taste better.

Around midnight Emma was getting tired, not sure if it was the beer that made her lightheaded, or that she was actually tired. She looked around to see if she could see her friend but Ruby doesn't seem to be around anymore. When Emma looks at Graham she notices that he's already holding her jacket in front of her, knowing that she wants to go home. "No, I can't go home yet. Ruby isn't here and I'm sleeping at her place tonight. I can't just leave her here all alone, Graham. What if something happens to her?" Emma started to panic. As tired, or lightheaded, that she is, she will not leave her best friend behind.

Graham sighs but he agrees with her, they both can't leave Ruby alone. While Graham starts to look around the place to see if she's around, someone yanks Emma's arm. "What the fuck?" She almost falls down and when she looks around she looks directly into her mother's boyfriend's eyes. "Get your hands off of me you asshole." She screams at him.

"What the hell are you doing here, Emma?"

"How did you even find me?" Her mother made plans for tonight, her and Whale would be going to some sort of stupid dinner show.

"It wasn't really that hard to find you as your friend Ruby decided to post a picture on Instagram."

Emma sighs, of course her friend would do such things. Not a day would go by without Ruby sharing a selfie. Apparently Ruby was too drunk to remember that her mother follows her and sees everything she posts.

"Now, get your stuff and I'll take you home."

"You are not taking me anywhere. You're not my dad and I am not leaving my friends behind."

Emma crosses her arms and stayed where she was. She never liked the guy and there's no way he's taking her with him.

"Just go home, Emma. I will look for Ruby and make sure she gets home." Graham said to her, keeping his eyes focused on Whale.

Since she didn't want to argue with Graham, she did as she was told and gathered her stuff. She couldn't help but give Whale a dirty look on her way out after saying goodbye to Graham.

When she got home she found her mother at the dinner table, furiously looking up at her. Her mother didn't say anything, she just shook her head and walked upstairs quickly followed by Whale.

"Everything alright, Emma?" Belle asks and she snaps back to reality.

"Yeah, I think so. It's just that I had a fight with my father earlier today and I'm not sure how to make things up with him."

She looks up at Belle and the brunette looks back at her with understanding in her eyes. Suddenly Emma realizes that even though she had just met her, it's very easy to talk to her.

"What happened? It's okay if you don't want to talk about it."

Emma opens her mouth but closes it again as Granny places her order in front of her.

"That looks delicious, can I have the same?" Belle asks the woman.

"Of course, sweetheart." Granny answers and walks back into the kitchen.

"Well, I found out why my parents got divorced." She starts and she can feel tears coming up. She quickly puts some fries in her mouth so she doesn't have to say anything else.

"I see. By your tone I'm taking it wasn't quite what you expected?" Belle looks at her with sympathy and Emma nods.

Maybe she shouldn't discuss this with someone she hardly knew. She didn't know anything about Belle but yet it felt good talking to someone.

"You know, my parents are divorced as well so I kind of know what it is that you're feeling at the moment. My father decided a kid was a bit too much for him and ran off. Told my mom the classic line of getting some cigarettes and he never came back." While Belle was talking, granny came back with her order which Emma didn't notice until the brunette took a bite of her hamburger.

"I'm sorry, Belle." She says as she lowers her head. She gets a bit frustrated at herself, thinking she's the only one in the world who has problems.

"Don't be sorry, I got over it and now I'm used to not having a father around. But you still have yours so maybe you should just embrace that?"

Emma sighs, Belle is right. She's lucky to still have a father in her life and she should talk things out with him.

She quickly finishes her dinner, thanks Belle and runs back home.

As she just runs around the corner she sees her dad get out of the Mayor's car, unable to stand on his feet as he nearly falls down.

She runs towards him and supports him by placing one hand around his waist and swings one of his around her shoulder.

"Emma? What are you doing?" David asks in surprise.

"Shh, don't talk. Let's get you to bed." He nods in agreement and lets her walk him inside.

As they reach his bedroom she slowly lets him sink into his bed where he immediately falls asleep.

She stands beside his bed in awe for a while and then walks out, closing the door behind her quietly even though he wouldn't hear it if she slammed it.

The next morning she wakes up and notices that the house is silent. There were no sounds coming from the kitchen which indicates that David either left for work already or he's still sleeping.

She gets out of the bed, puts on a bathrobe and quietly walks out her bedroom. She walks up to David's room, presses her ear against it and chuckles when she hears snoring from the other side of the door. She resists the temptation of walking into the room and cuddle up next to him and walks into the kitchen instead. What better way to make up for yesterday then a breakfast in bed?

Just as she walks into the hall, David walks out of his room and Emma almost drops the tray of food and coffee.

"Emma! You scared me!" David says while leaning with one hand against the wall and one hand against his chest.

"Yeah, well, you scared me, too! I almost dropped your breakfast." She hisses at him. As far as he knows, she still hasn't forgiven him quite yet.

"You made breakfast? For me? How nice of you. Let me take the tray from you." He pushes himself off the wall and takes over the tray.

"That looks delicious, sweetheart. Care to join me? It's been rather long since we've had breakfast in bed together."

He nods for her to go in first and as she enters his room, she looks around the place for the first time. It looks almost the same as her mother's room and she also notices a picture framed hanging against the wall. When she takes a closer look she sees that it's a picture of her and her mother.

"That was always my favorite picture of the two of you. I just had to keep it. When I packed my bags…" He pauses for a moment as he sees the look in her eyes.

"It's okay, dad." She says and tells him to continue with an encouraging nod.

"When I packed my bags, it caught my attention on the way out and I took it with me. Every night before I fell asleep I used to look at it." He lowers his head, deeply in his thoughts. She doesn't want to snap him back to reality so she just stands there, her eyes focused on his face. She pinches her eyes together when she thinks she sees a single tear falling from his eyes and suddenly she feels guilty. It's clear to see that he is, and has been, going through so much all these years.

She used to think that it was easy for him, easy to leave them alone. But now, now that she takes a closer looks at her father, she knows that it has been hard on him as well. All these years she believed what her mother used to tell her; "Your father thinks he's too good for us.", "He doesn't love us anymore and I'm doubting if he ever did."

"Dad?" She whispers

"Yes, sweetheart?" He still hasn't lifted his head up, just stands there as a broken man.

"I'm sorry." Is all she can say. She feels like she needs to walk up to him, take the tray out of his hands and hug him tightly like they used to. Before she can change her mind, her feet move and she slowly takes over the tray which she places on the bed. She can feel his eyes in her back but she doesn't care. She turns around and wraps her arms around his waist, her head crashing onto his chest. He staggers slightly but then pulls her close, one of his hands caressing the back of her head.

"Emma, please, don't apologize. I am the one that should say sorry." He kisses her crown and she starts to sob.

"No, dad, you shouldn't. I was so mad at you for why you left and kissing that other woman. For years I believed everything mom told me but now, the last 10 minutes, made me realize that it hasn't been easy on you as well. I should have let you explain yourself before judging you." The tears come rolling down faster now and he pulls her even closer into their hug, he had really missed her like this.

"You know what, Emma? How about you dry your tears and we eat this delicious breakfast like old times? We can discuss this subject later, when both of us have woken up properly and I'm not having a hangover." Both of them start to laugh and Emma pulls herself out of his arms, looking up to him with watery eyes and a soft smile on her face. He wipes away her tears with his thumbs and smiles back.

David picks up the tray again and waits for Emma to get comfortably on the bed before he sits himself down as well.

"Oh, coffee and orange juice? You are spoiling me, little girl." Emma chuckles and picks the orange juice of the tray.

"Actually, the orange juice is mine. You can have the cold coffee."

Emma laughs out loud as David tastes the coffee and makes a face because it's too cold to drink now. They still aren't where they should be yet, but after this, Emma is certain things between her and her father would work out.

* * *

 ** _So, what do you guys think? Looks like Emma and Killian worked out their own problems a bit. I'd say it's time for them to meet up again..._**

 ** _Anything you would like to see in chapter 13? I haven't started writing it yet so let me know what you want and I might make it happen!_**

 ** _Thank you for reading and enjoy tonight's episode_**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Guess who's back? I am so sorry for taking so long to update this story. I haven't forgotten about it, I just lost my writing mojo. I wasn't able to get anything on paper so I just left it alone for a while. I still haven't found my mojo back completely so it might take a while to update again.**

 **As always, a HUGE thank you to _Captured The Saviours Heart_ for beta reading my work and make the most incredible changes that look way better than my original writing!**

 **The parts in italic are flashbacks**

 **I do not own the show and I certainly don't own the characters**

 **Please leave a review at the end of the chapter because I love to hear from you guys! Enjoy!**

* * *

Before walking around the corner she takes a last look over her shoulder, watching him making his move on the first blonde he can find at the bar.

How did she end up here? How did she end up so miserable? She has her daughter, a man beside her and still she feels like she's the last person alive. As she walks back to her room, her mind wanders back to the time she used to be happy. She longs for that time again, she has done for a while. Had she made the right decision back then? She never stopped blaming herself for what happened. She closes the door of her room and leans her head against it. She sighs, closes her eyes and immediately his face appears in her mind.

 _It was a rainy day in April and she was at the animal clinic where she volunteered twice a week. She walks the dogs, plays with the cats and made sure everything was clean and sterile. Just as she was cleaning the waiting area, the front door of the clinic smashes open and a panicked man comes rushing in with a dog in his arms._

 _"Please, someone help me." The man says as he looks around, not seeing her at all._

 _"Here, let me help you." She rushes over to him and takes over the dog._

 _"I was driving on the main street and suddenly this little fella crosses the street and I saw him too late. Please Miss, help him."_

 _She walks into one of the examination rooms, places the dog gentle on the table and just as she is bending over the dog to see what's going on, the head of the vets comes rushing in. "What happened?" He looks from the man to her and she quickly explains what's going on._

 _"Thank you, I'll take it from here. Sir, you need to step out the room but you can wait outside if you want." She walks over to him and gently pushes the man outside the room. She closes the door and sits him down on one of the chairs. He places his head in his hands and she gets a cup of water for him._

 _"Hey, I'm sure he will be fine. Doc is our finest vet and he will take great care of him." She says to get him to calm down a bit. He looks like he might have a panic attack any second. She hands him the water and releases a breath of air she did not know off holding it in._

 _The man sighs and looks slightly calmer. He looks at her with his ocean blue eyes and her heart skips a beat. She hasn't seen anyone like him around here and she wonders where he's come from._

 _"I don't think I've ever seen you before." She says to him before she could change her mind and he gives her a half smile._

 _"That's highly possible as I just moved here a couple of days ago. I'm David." He holds out his hand, waiting for her to shake it and just as she's about to say her name, the door opens and Doc comes out._

 _"It looks like we have a fighter, he has a few bone fractures but he will definitely survive it." She can hear David let out a sigh of relieve and before she knows it, he picks her up and swings her around in euphoria. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to do that. It's just that I'm so happy he's okay." She looks at the ground, her cheeks so red that she's afraid to look at him._

 _She still stands there as Doc and David walk into the room together to check up on the dog. She straightens her skirt and as soon as her cheeks don't burn anymore, she follows them._

 _For the next couple of days, David would come in to check on the dog until they had located the owner. She didn't have to volunteer again until Friday but she made sure she was in the clinic when he was there. Together they took care of the dog, brushed his coat, walked him out as far as that was possible with his injuries and talked while petting him._

 _It only took a few days to locate the owner, after all Storybrooke was only a small town and any loving owner would notice their pet had gone missing. David let out a relieved sigh , when the owner thanked him for taking his pet to the shelter, appreciating that not everyone would do that. David and Sidney, the dog owner, talked some more about dogs, about the town. In all honesty she didn't really listen to what they were saying, instead she wondered what it would feel like to run her hands through his sandy hair. She quickly looked away, finding a rather interesting poster on the wall._

 _Stop it girl, you hardly know the man_

 _As soon as Sidney and his dog left the clinic, David turns around with his hands in the front pockets of his jeans and her heart skips a beat again, something which is becoming an increasingly regular occurrence, especially when she is around him._

 _"So, I guess this is it. Thank you for letting me come check up and for your kindness. Maybe I'll see you around sometime?" He says and she nods, not able to say anything right now. She watches him leave the clinic and just as she has found enough courage to ask him out, the front door closes behind him._

 _She turns around, ready to back her bag and leave as well, the door opens again and David comes walking in again. "Would you like to grab a cup of coffee?"_

 _After that, they became close and soon they were inseparable. People told them they were going to fast when they moved in together after 6 months but they knew it was the right thing to do._

With a sad smile on her face, she pushes herself away from the door and changes into her pyjamas and crawls into the bed. It would take a while before Whale would come back to their cabin, completely wasted and ready to start a fight if she would even look at him the wrong way. She has a daughter to take care off. She may not be able to protect herself much longer but she has to protect Emma. She can't tell her the things that are going on lately, she's too young to have that kind of burden, she knows her daughter would only blame herself, when it has nothing to do with her. She can't tell her about her fights with Whale when Emma is not around, the beers he would drink every evening.

She pulls the blanket up to right under her skin and lets her mind drift back to the days she had a happy family.

* * *

 _A year after they had moved in together he had asked her to make him the happiest man alive and marry her. Of course she said 'yes', he's the one for her. They married with just a few friends and family members and on their honeymoon she told him she's pregnant. He had picked her up like he had done in the animal clinic and her heart melted. After all this time, he was still capable of making her feel weaken in the knees with just a single touch._

 _Eight months later she gave birth to a perfect baby girl whom they named Emma. She had never been this happy, her husband by her side and their perfect daughter in her arms. David wasn't like any other dads, thinking their job was to do nothing while their wives would take care of the children. No, David was the other way around. If Emma cried at night to be fed, he would kiss her on her forehead, told her to go back to sleep and make a bottle for his baby girl. Sometimes she could hear him whisper to her through the baby phone which made her smile like crazy._

 _"Oh Emma, you will always be daddy's little princess. I'm telling myself everyday how happy I am I met your mother, no one could have given me such a beautiful baby girl like her."_

 _During the day he spends all his free time with her as well, making sure she would get her rest even though she never has to get up during the night to feed Emma._

* * *

She can hear Whale coming back to the cabin and by the sound of his footsteps he had his fair share of alcohol again. She turns around, facing the wall so she doesn't have to see him. The door opens and she can hear him tumbling over his own feet.

A few years after David had left her, she stumbles across Whale. She was walking down the street, talking on the phone with her friend Ingrid and when she turned around the corner, she bumped against someone. Her phone fell from her hand and while apologizing to whoever she had bumped into, bending down her knees to pick her phone up. When she came up she looks in the face of a young, blonde guy. Not someone she normally would feel attracted to but he had this certain charm that swept her off her feet. After she had apologized again he asked her out for dinner which she first declined but eventually she agreed to go out with him later that week.

The first couple of months have been normal, as normal as it can be for a couple that just started dating. Of course it wasn't anything like her marriage but she didn't expect that to be the case. He seemed to do well with Emma even though her daughter wasn't very font of him. But after 4 months of dating, his behavior started to change. He would stay out till 3 am and passed out next to her in bed, filling the room with the smell of alcohol. When Emma was at school or out with her friends they fought, not like any other couple. No, they fought like two people who hated each other more than anything in the world. After weeks of fighting, she just stayed quiet when he was in a certain mood which only seemed to piss her off. He never laid his hands on her but she always knew, in the back of her head, that he was capable of doing such thing. She dearly wished that Emma never suspected anything but her daughter was clever enough to fit the pieces together.

She told Emma that a cruise or a trip would work things out but that was a lie. She wanted Emma to be out of the way when things would eventually explode. She couldn't take this much longer, she's emotionally and physically exhausted. The smile on her face was a lie to the outside. On the inside she was scared, screaming and lonely. Night after night she longed back to the time she was truly happy and herself. It was in the moment that the man next to her believed she was asleep and whispered that she was a worthless girlfriend with a piece of shit daughter, that she decided to get her happy ending back. And that happy ending was not with this man, it was with the man she had never stopped loving.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Yay, another chapter! Luckily it didn't take me that long to write and post! Thank you for the lovely reviews on previous chapter, it makes me happy that people are glad that I'm back!**

 **The beginning of this chapter is where chapter 12 ended (David and Emma having breakfast in bed) and I know it has been awhile that I posted chapter 12 so you might want to re-read the end again.**

 **As always, a HUGE thank you to _Captured The Saviours Heart_ for beta reading my chapters and adding the best suggestions! **

**Please leave a review at the end of the chapter, I really love hearing from you and reviews are good for my writing mojo ;)**

 **Unfortunately, I don't own the show and the characters.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

After breakfast, Emma gets out of the bed and walks into her own bedroom so that David can sleep some more as he's not feeling well. She opens her laptop and checks her mail.

 _Emma,_

 _What is going on? We haven't heard from you in days, is everything alright? If I don't hear back from you in 24 hours, we will come to Storybrooke!_

 _Ruby and Graham_

She has to admit that she completely forgot about her friends. With everything that's going on, her dad and Killian, she didn't think about emailing them back. She quickly emails back that everything is okay and that she will contact them again soon and closes her laptop again. She wasn't sure what to say about well, everything to her friends. Not knowing what to do now that David is sleeping, she quickly changes into a short and a t-shirt, grabs one of her books and walks outside onto the porch.

It's not even 10 am but the town's already buzzing with people doing their daily things. Her dad's neighbor seem to be doing some gardening and waves at her when he notices her. She politely waves back, opens her book and starts to read. After what seems like hours, she looks up and jumps when she sees someone standing in front of her.

"Killian! You scared me! What the hell are you doing here?" She puts away her book and rolls her eyes. She had hoped he would leave her alone for at least a day so she has some time for herself.

"Well, nice to see you too, love." He ignores her look and sits beside her. "Are you always this friendly before the afternoon or is something going on?"

"I'm friendly in the morning, when I want to be."

They stare at each other, silently, waiting for the other to look away first. After a minute Killian opens his mouth but immediately closes it again and Emma sighs. "Seriously Killian, if you have anything to say than talk or else go home. Please." She has no idea what's going on, why she's this harsh to him. To her, love is still a strange feeling. Yesterday everything was fine and today she can't seem to be nice to him.

"Alright, Swan, if that's how you want to play. Have a nice day." He doesn't even look at her as he gets up and walks away. Should she go after him and apologize? Should she stay? She has no clue what to do and before she can make up her mind, Killian is nowhere to be seen.

Well done, Emma. Well done.

She sighs and picks up her book again but the words can't seem to keep her attention. When she reads the same word for the tenth time, slams it on the table and walks out onto the street.

Suddenly she hears her name and stops. As she turns around she sees Regina walking towards her. Great, that's exactly what she needed. One of Killian's friend being mean to her.

"Well well, nice to see you again, Emma." Regina says sarcastically. "Yeah, well, I wish I could say the same, Regina." She snaps back.

"Quite hostile, aren't we?" Regina looks at her, her hands in her side and her head tilted a bit. A big smile appears on her face.

"What is it that you want, Regina? I am not in the mood for your sarcastic comments." She doesn't even wait for her reply and starts to turn around, ready to keep walking.

"What I want, Miss Swan, is for you to stay away from Killian." Emma starts to laugh.

"Seriously? That's what you want? You know what, Regina, I don't give a shit about what you want. I don't know what it is that you think you're doing but I can be around who ever I want to and whenever I want to. Now, have a nice day."

When she starts to walk away, Regina grabs her wrist and makes her to turn around again. "I don't know who you think you are, but this is my town. When I tell you to stay away from Killian, you will stay away from Killian. You hear me? Cause, you have no idea what I'm capable of." She lets go of Emma and walks away, leaving her surprised and pissed behind. Emma starts to walk to, more than ever she needs to talk to Killian. Now.

She knocks on his door and had hoped to see Killian but its Liam opening. "Emma, are you alright?"

"Is Killian here? I need to talk to him." She sounds harsher than meant to and Liam narrows his eyes. "Yeah, he's upstairs. He came back from your place a couple of minutes ago, is everything alright?"

She walks past him, straight towards the stairs. "Perfect, everything is just perfect." She leaves him behind and as she walks upstairs she can see him shrug and closing the door. When she comes upstairs, she walks straight towards Killian's bedroom and opens the door without knocking.

"Emma, what the hell are you doing here? Haven't you learned to knock before entering a room?" She could tell his anger was fake as his eyes sparkled as soon as he saw her.

"Cut the crap, Jones. I came down here to apologize for my behavior at my place but then I got stopped by your friend Regina on my way here. I don't know who the hell she thinks she is but I would suggest you whistled your dog back. I'm not here to be told to stay away from you. Not by her, my dad or anyone else for that matter. If needed, I will stand my ground. Keep that girl away from me, Killian. The last time I checked, your dad runs this town and not her." She gasps for breath and looks at him. He just stands there, not saying anything at all which makes her even madder.

"Go on a date with me, Swan." Is all he eventually says.

"Go what now? Haven't you heard what I just said? I don't want to go on a date, I want you to tell Regina to back the hell off." She doesn't understand where this is coming from, she yells at him and he asks her on a date?

"I will tell Regina to back off when you go on a date with me." A smirk appears on his face and she tilts her head, is he even serious?

"You know what, Jones, screw you!" She turns around and walks away without stopping even though he asks her to stop.

Emma, love, stop. I was joking! About Regina but not about the date. Swan, stop!" She walks past Liam again, who looks at her questionably but she ignores him.

Just as she's outside, Killian had managed to keep up with her and gentle but firmly grabs her wrist.

"Killian, let go off me." She pulls her hand back and he immediately lets go.

"Emma, please. I was only joking. I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry about what Regina did, I will talk about it with her. But please, do go on a date with me."

"I-I…on a date? You and me?" she stumbles. All of her anger seem to vanish as he looks at her, his hands in the front pocket of his tight jeans.

"Yes, love, you and me, on a date." He leans in closer to her as if he wants to kiss her. He stops just inches from her lips and her heart stops. "We could go for a date, in the park, hold hands, do coupley things." He winks and then leans back again. Emma let's go of the breath she didn't know she has held in in the first place. He really wants to go on a date with her. An awkward feeling rushes through her stomach. A real date, the two of them doing things that couples do.

 _A couple._

Since when are they a couple? Yes, they had kissed and spend quite some time together. But, are they a couple? Is this what happens when you kiss someone, you instantly become a couple? She starts to breath heavy, she needs to get out of here.

Without saying anything she runs, away from him. She hears him yelling her name but she keeps on running, freaked out about everything that he has said.

 _Go on a date with me. What couples do?_

What if they are really a couple? Is that what Emma wants? She does know for sure that she does not want to go on a date. The first and last time she went on a date it became her worst nightmare. What if Killian is exactly like Philip?

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a review and I'm going to try to update soon again. Thank you for reading!**


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